Glimmer of Hope: Cato's Story
by SophiaTab
Summary: Glato. Why did they cast Riley from TSCC and a grown-up Seth from Witch Mountain as Glimmer and Cato? Inspired by the film and my obsession with tragic love happy ending created without going AU though . Glimmer in Dis. 2 has been done on purpose.
1. Chapter 1

**Glimmer of Hope: Cato's Story**

**Chapter 1**

Cato noticed her right away when she joined their cohort at the Tribute Academy. Nobody just started training at fifteen. Formal Academy selection occurred at ten, but most of them had been preparing since birth. Closer examination revealed so many oddities in the new girl that she captured all his attention for awhile. She had really long hair. Most girls began growing out their hair at fifteen, but hers was already a golden sheath. Then there were her eyes: diamond bright, smart, cunning, but not like the other girls, honed from years of training. Her eyes were almost feral like the animals they sometimes hunted in preparation for the Games. He had never seen eyes like hers on another Tribute candidate, only on Champions.

"Her name is Glimmer," Thor said.

Thor was the only boy in their age cohort that could match him. In a few years it might come down to the two of them for the honor of representing District Two, but until then they couldn't stop from being friends. Even though Cato's father didn't think much of him, Thor had his virtues. He was an unstoppable sparring partner and smart in an describable way that had more to do with predicting what people would do and calculating hidden odds than formal logic. Thor's biggest flaw was he thought about girls too much. So, it didn't surprise Cato in the least that Thor already knew things about this new one. Glimmer? It suited the way her hair reflected the light, but it didn't sound right for a Tribute from their district.

"They say she was found in the Vicehood," Thor said.

Cato had never heard of a Tribute coming from there. The Vicehood, it was, well, just that: blocks of bars, gambling dens, and strip clubs. The people in that neighborhood were skinny and weak like Tributes from the outer districts. Glimmer's body was quite well defined. Not as muscular as some girls, but the proportions were right to use every pound of muscle at maximum force.

Thor lowered his voice to almost inaudible. "They say she's already killed a man. Possibly more, but they know of at least one."

She's already made a kill! She had an advantage over all the rest of them. Cato knew in the Games he would become the greatest killer of all the Tributes that year, but like all the other Tribute candidates, he had not crossed the barrier to taking a life yet. His mind raced with the possibilities of what he could learn from Glimmer.

He wasn't able to approach her until lunch. She sat alone, also unusual. Meal times were good for practicing social skills, which were very important in attracting sponsors. She ate rapidly consuming everything on the tray, rather uncouth in the Tribute Academy Dining Hall, but probably a useful skill in the Games. He sat down at her table and started with the easiest question he could think of. "How did you get the name Glimmer?

She gazed up at him with wary eyes. "My mother gave it to me."

"What did your father say?" Cato asked. He couldn't imagine a family where the father didn't have final say over everything important.

"He wasn't around," she replied.

More unusual still. Almost all Tributes candidates had two living parents. It took two incomes to afford the tutors and coaches need for the early years. A few like Cato had generations behind them stretching back to the beginning of the Games. Of the thirty-nine Hunger Games Champions from District One, twenty-three of them had been members of his family. A girl without a father, coming from the Vicehood, who had already killed a man, she must have mad skills! And he had very little leverage to convince her to share those skills. He thought of something else to say, something that should please her also. Most people liked it when someone complimented their families. "She must have worked very hard."

Glimmer looked puzzled. "Who?"

"Your mother. After your father died, she must have worked very hard for you to get the training needed for the Academy," he said.

But she wasn't pleased. Her mouth turned down. She shoved her tray across the table knocking it into his, stood up, and walked away. No one flung trays across tables in the Academy dining hall!

He didn't see Glimmer again until after sword practice when there was a free period between the end of formal classes and when the Dining Hall served evening meal to the dormitory cadets. Cato had already found out from Thor that she lived in the dormitory. Only cadets from the far corners of the district did. Again something odd, if she was raised in the Vicehood, didn't that mean her mother had a home in town? He found her in the Great Hall of Champions. That he could understand. There were few places else in all the Training Academy that he liked better. Along the length of hall hung the formal portraits of all District Two's Champions. In a few years his portrait would hang among them. "I didn't mean to offend you in the dining hall," he said quickly.

She seemed startled at this voice. Apparently, she had been really concentrating on the portraits. "Did I say I was upset?"

Her eyes cut through him. Pure predator. For a moment he didn't know what to say and that was dangerous. Luckily her gaze turned away to his older brother Ajax's portrait.

"He looks like you. More muscular, but it's nearly the same face." she said.

Despite extra hours in the gym, he still didn't have the same dense muscular bulk Ajax had hefted at his age. Their father said there was still time to grow however. "That's because he's my brother, Ajax. He was Champion in the Games nine years ago," he said.

Her gaze returned to him with genuine interest. He might have something he could leverage after all for information about killing a man. "Really?"

"Of course, check the history rolls," he said. He walked a few meters to another portrait. "This is my father, Severus." Cato could never look directly at his father's portrait without thinking he should genuflect. Hardly anyone did that in religious houses anymore, but the Hall of Champions was holy ground. These were sacred images, so he dipped his head toward Serverus's portrait. He pointed to another portrait. "This is my mother, Livia, Champion the year after my father." He could tell she was impressed.

"Your family really has history in the Games," she said.

"Twenty-three Champions. My grandfather, Marcus, was the first Champion from District Two." He led her to the beginning of the portraits. Now his father he respected out of duty and fear, but his grandfather was different. He would have knelt out of admiration and love remembering the old man that sat with him in the garden telling stories of past glory.

"Why is there fire and rubble in the background of his portrait?" Glimmer asked.

"It was one of the earliest Hunger Games. The Rebellion had just been crushed and the District was still being rebuilt. He wanted it shown that way in his portrait, so people would be forced to remember how far we had come from those days." Cato knew every detail of his grandfather's portrait, including the ones they didn't put down in the history books. His great-grandfather had been a Rebel officer. His grandfather's victory restored not only District honor, it reformed the entire family with the Capital. With one victory they went from being the children of traitors to the family of a hero.

"Why are you talking to me so much?" Glimmer asked.

"I want to learn from you," he said.

She laughed at him. "You learn from me? You're the best student at the Academy."

"But, I've never killed anyone," he admitted.

She stopped laughing. The rumors were true. "What do you want to know?"

He gazed into the cat gleam in her eyes. His stomach felt funny. It wasn't fear, but something else, something he had never known before. "What does it feel like to kill a man?"

She smiled. "It feels great!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

They became training partners. Glimmer had a wild style of fighting. Her unpredictability even caught their instructors off guard and she could make a weapon out of anything. Of course, when he asked her questions about the Vicehood, the answers were from a world he never dreamed existed in his own district. He knew about poverty and hunger in the outlying districts, but that was because the people were lazy and rebellious. Glimmer told him about people in his own city who struggled to eat.

She explained why she never ate the tofu or hot cereals. "It's was mostly soy and oatmeal when I was little. Sometimes my mother bought eggs or meat paste. We didn't have an oven just a burner. You can't cook much over a burner."

"But you know how to eat meat? We eat lunch together and you never have trouble with the knives and forks?" He had discovered that when she wanted to Glimmer could eat as daintily as his sister-in-law Drusilla who never let anyone forget about the fine manners she learned in her political connected family.

Glimmer looked over his shoulder when she answered. "Sometimes clients would take my mother to dinner. She would bring me leftovers of steak and prime rib."

Somehow she had grown strong on that diet. He ate meat like that at every meal, but still couldn't match Ajax's build. His parents argued over it. He heard the shouts even if he couldn't make out the words. He knew his father believed there was something more that could still be done. Whatever this something was his mother opposed it. He tried to eat more and exercise more, but he saw his father's disappointment with every bench press.

He knew he wasn't spending as much time with Thor as he used to, but Thor didn't seem to mind. It gave him an opportunity to move on Clove, the reigning girl's champion in throwing knives. Of course, Thor did sometimes hassle him about Glimmer like the time he insisted on showing Cato all the places around the Academy where the security cameras had blind spots. But that was Thor; he never stopped thinking about sex even when they were lifting weights.

"Glimmer has got to know some kinky stuff raised in the Vicehood," Thor suggested. "They say her mother went by the stage name Glitter because that's all she wore when she danced. Does Glimmer do dances for you?"

"Watch your mouth. She's my training partner." Cato responded. Usually it didn't bother him when Thor talked like that about girls, but Glimmer was different. It felt wrong for her to be in Thor's fantasies. "I thought you were tight with Clove now."

"She cut me off. Almost literally with one of her damn knives," Thor said.

"What did you do?" Cato asked.

"Snuck into her room started sucking her toes. Most girls consider it erotic." Thor explained. "So what do you and Glimmer do?"

"Work out, study our academics, watch footage of previous Games," Cato said.

"You've got to be joking?" Thor insisted.

Cato had a momentary urge to dump a forty-pound disk on Thor's chest. "We're training partners. She's my friend just like you are."

"I don't have a vagina." Thor's smile irritated him. He finished his work out on the other side of the weight room.

He couldn't ignore the reaction she got when they went outside the Academy. When Glimmer was out of earshot, grown men he had never met congratulated him on having such a beautiful woman. In his family they didn't think that way. Dating wasn't forbidden, but it was unnecessary. It wasn't common in his family either. His parents never dated. He couldn't remember before Ajax and Drusilla got married, but he did not think they had either. Since his grandfather's days, male champions had married the next female champion to produce better and better Tributes.

Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to choose a woman just because he enjoyed her company like Thor did. And sometimes he pretended, like he pretended a lot of things, if he could pick a future wife out of all the girls he knew without considering her genetic fitness or fertility, what kind of girl he would pick. She should be someone who liked to enjoy the simple things of their district, not a constant Capital imitator like Drusilla. Sometimes he wondered how Ajax could stand Drusilla's pretensions. He wanted a girl that wouldn't scorn him for his minor failings. She would definitely be someone who he would spend a lot of time, so she would have to be smart, but not arrogant. And it would be good if she had different perspectives and ideas than him so that they wouldn't grow bored with each other. Lately, as he compiled his mental list of the ideal bridal candidate, he kept seeing Glimmer's face in his head. Sometimes, she intruded into his dreams. But, that was just a natural reaction because they spent so much time together. She was a fellow Tribute cadet and he was expected to marry the most available female Champion after winning the Games.

Eventually he had to invite her for dinner at his parents' house. It was his father's rule. Severus believed in sizing up the competition often and at the earliest possible opportunity. His father always tried to intimidate visitors, but this dinner seemed even more pronounced. The dining room had been dressed to impress with the finest china and silver. All made in District One as good as they had in the Capital. There were nearly as many dishes on the table as appeared when they had Capital visitors. Ajax and Drusilla had been ordered to join them. It didn't help that Glimmer had only an Academy uniform to wear while they were dressed finely. Drusilla announced several times that her outfit had been designed especially for her in the Capital the year she won the Games. And it still fit. Each time Drusilla said it still fit, Ajax grimaced. Cato noticed each facial contortion grew more elaborate until Glimmer was biting back a smile and he was grateful to his brother. Still it wasn't the most horrible dinner he had ever had with his family and fellow cadet. Last year Clove accidentally discharged a steak knife to wedge a few inches away from his father's hand.

His mother tried to be pleasant, but she always tried to be pleasant. "Your mother and you lived in only one room. It must have made you very close."

"What did she do when she entertained clients?" His father asked. A Champion's gaze burned in his eyes.

Clients? What was he talking about? Cato had figured it out that Glimmer's mother had probably been an exotic dancer, but he never heard of dancers performing in their homes.

Glimmer's gaze turned to steel. "She didn't bring work home with her, sir."

"That is commendable. I imagine a woman in her circumstances might have been tempted to save money however possible." His father said.

"She didn't have to, sir. Her clients could afford the best hotels."

Cato had never heard her voice so cold and brutal. Was she practicing for the Arena on his father? Nobody had ever done that before.

Amazingly Drusilla saved the evening. "Father Severus, please entertain us again with the story of your amazing double kill in the final round of the Games." There was nothing his father liked more than discussing the Games.

His father pulled him into the study the moment dinner was over. "A nice piece, but the time for that is after you are a Champion."

Cato defended himself quickly. "Glimmer's my training partner. I don't think about her that way."

His father scowled. "I can see it in your eyes every time you look at her."

"She's the best training partner, I've ever had," Cato said.

His father continued. "We would have preferred Clove. Her line is strong, three Champions including her father, and no markers for genetic defects. But, that girl? She's from the gutter. Her whore mother probably doesn't even know who her father was."

He thought quickly. "Those are just catty rumors. I bet Clove started them."

His father slammed him against the door. "Think with your brain not your cock. She is pretty; I'll give you that. You have an eye for beauty, but she has yet to prove herself. Maybe if she becomes a Champion. Maybe. Otherwise, she's nothing to you. Understand."

He had never rejected his father's advice before. After all he was one of the greatest Champions of the Games and knew what was best. Accept this time, he didn't. In all his training at the Academy, Cato had never met anyone that could translate the techniques they learned in theory into practical use so quickly as Glimmer. Talking with her inspired him in ways none of his instructors did. She could not be nothing! "She's the best training partner, I have ever had." Cato repeated firmly. Then he fled the study.

He found Glimmer in the garden where his mother cultivated the roses the Capital sent her. Glimmer didn't look angry just sad.

"It's all true. My mother was a prostitute." Glimmer said.

He was stunned. "How did you know what my father told me that?"

She shrugged. "It's what a father would say especially when it is the truth. She worked the clubs as a dancer and when that money wasn't enough she worked the men who came to the clubs."

"Was the man you killed one of those men?" he asked. He had been rabidly curious about that rumor ever since he realized it was probably true.

She gazed directly into his eyes. "He was a pimp."

He knew that pimps were gangsters, part of the criminal underworld. Killing one wouldn't have been an easy thing. All the more reason to respect what Glimmer had did. Still, it felt odd hearing the worst rumors confirmed. It didn't change the way he felt about Glimmer though he knew there were people, especially his father, who would tell him it should. The fact that she admitted it so openly without any attempt to hide the truth, well that had to stand for something about her character. Only a true Champion would be so brave. She was still the best training partner ever. "So, my great-grandfather was one of the Rebels that caused the Treaty of Treason. It doesn't matter about the black sheep in your family. In the Games, we all have the opportunity to redeem ourselves."

She smiled. Her hair glowed in the night air. It reminded him of the gold crowns Champions received. His stomach fluttered. "Do you want to go running?"

"Back at the Academy?" she asked.

"No, down Monument Avenue and back a few times. At night, there are no crowds. The light is great. The air is cool." Monument Avenue at night was his favorite place to run. Surrounded by all the obelisks honoring past Champions his future seemed self-evident. He already had an idea where he wanted his monument to be.

"Isn't it dangerous to be out there at night?" she said.

"Not if we wear our Academy clothes. Some of the Peacekeepers high-five me when I pass." He said.

Naturally Glimmer hadn't brought running clothes to a dinner invitation, but they were able to borrow some from Drusilla. She still had all her old Academy clothes. She even wore them sometimes, Drusilla reminded them. After all, they still fit. Lately, Drusilla never failed to include that in every conversation.

There was a full moon, orange trees were blooming, and he had the best running partner in the world at his side. They stopped first at his grandfather's monument. It was still the most decorated. Grateful citizens from throughout the district laid flowers and burned candles at the base to honor how his grandfather regained the honor of their people after the Rebellion. He could tell she was impressed, but who wouldn't be. Tonight he would also point out the lesser monuments dedicated to his great-uncles, great-aunts, and various cousins. He noticed what he thought were changes to the monuments. When he moved closer what he found was incomprehensible. Red paint had been thrown across the obelisks. _Lambs to Slaughter_, _Murderer of 23_, and _Capital Serial Killer_ had been spray painted there also.

Glimmer grabbed his hand. "Come on. We better inform the Peacekeepers, so no one thinks we were involved."

What had happened? His mind reeled. Who would deface Monument Avenue? It was the greatest glory of their district. Then he remembered; there had been a delegation from District One in the city earlier. "It must have been that scum from District One. They've always been cowards."

Glimmer reached an emergency call box and pulled the alarm. "It was Rebel sympathizers. I don't think actual Rebels would waste resources on something so risky without a bigger payoff."

"What are you talking about? The Rebellion ended over seventy years ago." Cato said.

For the first time ever Glimmer rolled her eyes at him. Suddenly an entire squad of Peacekeepers surrounded them. It didn't take long and Glimmer did most of the talking. She told them that she and Cato had been on an evening run when they discovered this horrifying, traitorous act of vandalism. She was really scared. Had the Peacekeepers checked the buildings for snipers? Could they get escorts back to the Academy? She was really afraid Rebels might attack them. Two Peacekeepers drove them back to the Academy in an armored car allegedly because of Glimmer's extreme state of panic though Cato noticed how often the male Peacekeeper's gaze strayed to Glimmer. Between the strange way she was acting and the desecration of Monument Avenue he was never more glad to see Peacekeepers leave them than when they arrived at the Academy.

"When you get home, tell your parents what happened. Emphasize how shocked you were." She told him.

"I don't understand?" he said.

She pulled him into an alcove. He knew it was one of the security cameras, blind spots. He had caught Thor and Clove making out there more than once. "Your mother's family is Peacekeeper; don't you know anything about what's happening in Panem?"

"We don't see that much of my mother's people." he said. That was certainly true. Sometimes his father even found excuses not to be at dinner when his mother's relatives were guests.

"You should talk to them more. Peacekeepers know more than anyone what's going on. The Rebels still exist. Last year they set off a bomb in the District One Tribute Academy. There were over forty dead." She said.

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes again. "If you're curious, talk to your mother carefully. She should know something. She is the daughter of Peacekeepers. But whatever you do, don't ask your father about anything."

He went home and followed her advice. His father raged about the cowards in District One who were probably the ones who did this heinous thing. They had always been jealous of District Two's prowess in the Games. But District Two would have its revenge. In the Arena District One's Tributes would squeal like the cowards they were. His mother watched quietly until his father's anger abated and then spoke. "You should not run along Monument Avenue in the evenings anymore."

Once his father had left, he asked the first question. "Why did you say that about running on Monument Avenue?"

His mother pursed her lips. "Only because sometimes places that seem to be safe are not as safe as we believe."

This night it seemed an entirely different world had been thrust in front of his eyes. He couldn't even comprehend the limits. "There are rumors."

His mother's calmness fled and was replaced with extreme agitation. In the least, he had never seen her so livid. "What rumors? What have you heard? Who has been telling you things?"

At least her mind didn't immediately jump to Glimmer. He thought fast. "I was running in the open market and I heard men talking." Good she couldn't expect him to identify anyone if he had overhead a rumor from while running. "They were talking about how District Five had vandalized the gym at the District One Academy, but someone else said it was Rebels." Even better let her think he had no idea of the severity of damage. "I haven't told anybody at the Academy. I am afraid of it jeopardizing morale."

His mother relaxed. "It was probably some insane person. The Peacekeepers will find him and get him the help he needs."

"Is that what the Peacekeepers usually do? Deal with insane people?" He asked. All the years he knew his mother was from a Peacekeeper family, but he had never understood much about what the Peacekeepers were for and why there were so many of them.

She starred at him for a long time before she answered. "In every society there will be people who break the rules and engage in criminal activity. Peacekeepers exist to protect the law-abiding people.

It was practically the school lesson he had memorized when he was seven. Stop asking questions. _Stop asking questions!_ Deafening echoes shot through his brain, but his curiosity had become a ravenous beast. "But there are no Rebels? They all died out in the Time of Treason, right?"

He saw the real answer before she spoke. "In every society there will be people who are discontent. Sometimes they do things that are against the best interests of everyone even themselves. Some of them may call themselves Rebels because it gives them confidence, I suppose. But they are no match for the Peacekeepers. There's nothing to fear. The Capital keeps us safe."

So the Rebels still existed and there were things the Peacekeepers knew that other citizens didn't. How much more of the world was hidden? He risked another question. "How often do you hear from our relatives on your side of the family?"

That had been a major mistake. His mother looked agitated again. "You have never asked about your uncles and cousins on my side of the family before?"

"My thoughts were filled with training. I had no curiosity. I knew my family was filled with Champions and I knew it was filled with Peacekeepers. However until tonight I never fully realized how important Peacekeepers are." He said.

This seemed to please her because her eyes softened. She reached over and ran her fingers through his hair. "Your cousin Darius will be passing through our District soon in route from the Capital to his post. Usually he and I dine at your brother's house, would you like to join us?"

He nodded. "Yes, I would like to know more about the rest of my family." Another thought came to him. It was another risk, but he took it. "Can I invite Glimmer?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Drusilla didn't join them for dinner the night cousin Darius was their guest. That was a relief. She would have complained all night about the simpleness of the meal: prime rib, roasted potatoes, grilled vegetables, and chocolate mousse. Cato had come to prefer meals like this instead of the barrage of spices in Capital cuisine. Without all the sugary glazes and sauces before the dessert, the sweet chocolate seemed all the more delicious at the end. Darius certainly enjoyed it.

"Aunt Livia, I can't thank you enough! After where I've been this is a taste of heaven!" he gushed between stuffing his mouth. He ate like Glimmer did when she wanted to be left alone. Still Cato sensed it would be easy to have a conversation with Darius unlike his father's side of the family. When they dined with those cousins only the Games could be discussed.

"How are things is District Twelve?" His mother asked casually.

Darius sucked down more wine before answering. "It's a hell hole. Nothing, but mountains, coal mines, and half-starved people."

"Why doesn't the Capital teach them better ways to live?" Cato asked. Cold silence followed. Obviously, that hadn't been a smart question.

Darius looked amused. "Because if the people ever stopped struggling for food and realized how screwed they are, we would have a real problem. Half-starved is easier to control."

"Have you had problems in Twelve?" Ajax asked.

"Nothing organized. We have the usual violations. The black market operates unhindered. But it's the only way to have a decent standard of living in the district even for us." Darius said.

"Surely, Peacekeepers aren't sneaking around to buy on the black market?" Cato heard his mother ask.

"No, we are pretty out in the open about it, Aunt Livia," Darius said almost a little too smartly, then his tone became more sober. "There are supply line problems going through the other districts." Darius's gaze went back to Ajax. "Now that could be organized resistance."

"Why? Why are there so many traitors to Panem?" Cato asked. Again everyone looked at him as if he were the stupidest person in the world. Cato realized these dinners had never just been about jovial family meals. Ajax, Darius, and his mother had been using them for years to obtain information that wasn't available to most people. Glimmer had been right about everything. There was a lot he didn't know even about his family.

"You'll figure it out when you're a Champion and you see the Capital and the other districts," Darius said.

Ajax started to talk. "In the Capital, there is everything. It's Paradise. There's more food of such wondrous varieties you can't even imagine what will come next at every meal. There's color everywhere so vibrant you can't take it in all at once sometimes. The dresses that are mom's and Druscilla's best are just everyday wear in the Capital. And there's nothing the technology in the Capital can't create." Ajax's face grew dark. His voice fell and turned into gravel. "Then you tour the districts. Eleven is the one that did it for me. At harvest time, the fields stretch forever in a sea of golden grain and you can smell the fruit trees from miles away. But the children die from scurvy and kwashiorkor."

Darius spoke next. "Things are slightly better in Twelve, but only because we pick our battles. The people poach. They trade illegally. They probably steal out of our supplies. Our Head Peacekeeper doesn't enforce a lot of regulations. He says it keeps the people quieter if they can feel like their rebelling a little and get some extra food. Some people still starve to death, but not as many."

The chocolate mouse turned to chalk in Cato's mouth until Glimmer put a glass in his hand. He noticed her fingers were trembling slightly. When she spoke, Cato realized it was the first time that evening since the introductions that he had heard her voice.

"Does any of your family serve in District One?" she asked.

Darius glanced over at Ajax and then Ajax spoke. "There are rumors of an attack on the Tribute Academy in One. I've heard twenty-five dead."

"We, I mean, I heard forty dead," Cato said.

Darius sighed. "A hundred and forty dead, at least, and that's what they think from the list of the missing. They haven't found all the bodies yet. Forty were Tribute cadets, the rest were instructors and staff.

Cato heard his mother gasp. "The rebels hope to gain support by that?" she sputtered.

"They want to turn the Reapings in District One and Two into sources of terror rather than pride. They do that by destroying the Tribute Academies: no academies, no volunteers." Ajax explained.

"The bombs had components from outside District One. One even utilized cattle manure, so we would know that the attack required coordination across Panem." Darius said.

"But you caught all the people involved, right?" Cato asked.

Darius looked over at Ajax again.

"Peacekeepers aren't suppose to talk about on-going investigations," Ajax said. Cato realized there was only so much of this hidden world they would share with him yet.

"Are we in danger?" Glimmer asked. Ordinarily, Cato liked hearing her voice so soft, but this time it bothered him. The edge of fear soured any pleasure he found in her gentle tone.

His mother took over signaling that it was time to end the discussion. "Of course, not! District Two has always had superior security to District One. And while they weren't expecting anything before now the Peacekeepers are on alert for any problem."

After dinner Ajax showed Darius and Glimmer his garden. The Capital sent Druscilla flowers also, mostly lilies. Caring for those flowers was the only time Druscilla didn't complain about having to touch dirt. Cato helped his mother clear the table. Well, as best he could, she seemed very worried about him dropping things. Maybe he was more clumsy than usual with the delicate plates and glasses, but so many questions were swirling in his head. Finally, she put her arm on his shoulder like she would when he was a boy. "Are you all right? You look like a virgin bride after her wedding night?"

"The world is very different from what they teach us in school?" he said.

She nodded. "Children are often taught a sanitized version of life because it scares adults to expose them to so much while they are so young." She stroked his chin. "We live better than most people, but we risk more by competing in the Games or serving in the Peacekeepers."

"Why did you choose the games over joining the Peacekeepers?" That question had been burning in his mind since Darius arrived.

"Peacekeepers can't have families until they serve their tours. I would have been in my forties or I would have had to marry a much older man who had already retired. I wanted to have children while I was still young with a husband who was near my age. The Academy was a chance and I met your father there." She explained.

Usually his mother didn't talk about her early life and until this moment she had always seemed eternally an adult, always his mother. Thinking about her and his father as young like he and Glimmer were now, well, it felt odd. Another new world appeared before his eyes.

When they joined the others in the garden Glimmer looked uncomfortable though Cato had overhead her thanking Darius when they arrived. Suddenly, he didn't like Darius so much.

"What's going on?" Cato asked.

Darius had a cat's smile. "I was trying to explain to your friend how she could drastically improve her life without risking it all in the Games."

"How? By becoming a Peacekeeper?" Cato asked.

"By marrying a retired Peacekeeper. Our pensions aren't as luxurious as Champions, but it's a very comfortable life. I know guys retiring soon who would give a lot to a pretty, young wife." Darius's gaze raked down Glimmer's body and Cato wanted to punch him. "You were made to be an old man's darling."

If the contempt in Glimmer's eyes were channeled into the Arena, she might become the fastest Champion in history. It was the first time Cato had a clear idea of what she looked like making a kill. "I would rather die in the Arena than have an old man touch me."

Ajax announced he had received a new video opera from the Capital. It was an ancient piece written before the Time of Troubles, but absolutely fascinating with giant snakes and magical spells. He insisted they all retire to the entertainment room to watch.

"Darius meant well, I think," Cato told her as they ran that evening.

"I know. But all my life I've had old men after me. I always wanted to kill them." Glimmer said.

He didn't know how to respond to that, so they continued their run in silence. When they got to the Academy dormitory she pulled him into the alcove that was blind to security cameras. Her face was wracked with pain. "I only did what I had to do to survive. You have got to believe me. I wasn't like my mother looking for a man to take me away. Sometimes I ate garbage. Sometimes, I couldn't, but I only did things when I had to! I'm still virgin, sort of. I only did the things that couldn't get me pregnant." Suddenly she was crying. Not the gushing theatrical tears some girls used to get attention, but the silent squeezed tears of someone who didn't want to cry.

He could tell her past really upset her. Of course, who wouldn't be upset about having to eat garbage? But who knew what either of them might have to eat to survive in the Games? He imagined leftover food that had been sitting in garbage can wasn't half as disgusting as rats or insects. He put his hands on her shoulder. "I believe you. You only did what you had to survive."

Glimmer wiped her eyes. "You're the best Cato! Absolutely the best!" Her smile lit up the night. Without warning she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. It felt like a stun gun went off inside him, but somehow the pain felt good. And it was certainly nothing like when his mother or his aunts kissed him. Then he remembered Glimmer hated for men to touch her, but she had kissed him. Apparently he was the one exception to her belief that any man who touched her should die. It felt amazing to be that exception.

She started to walk into the dormitory, but he grabbed her hand. He didn't want her to leave so quickly or at least not until he was sure he could walk away from where he stood.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked.

He stepped toward her, leaned down, and kissed her back. Another stun gun shot more powerful than the first like a cluster round had gone off inside him. Nothing in his life, not any contest or award, had ever felt like this. "Are you my girlfriend now?" he asked. That could be the only explanation for Glimmer's behavior.

Her chin trembled. "If you want me to be?"

He nodded. Glimmer stepped up to him again and kissed him on the lips. Nuclear explosions went off inside him. No wonder Thor was so crazy about girls!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

In some ways having a girlfriend was easier than Cato had imagined. According to the social customs of the Tribute Academy which he assumed were probably similar to those of other young people their age he was required to share a table with Glimmer in the Dining Hall at lunch which he had already been doing. He had to walk beside her to and from their classes schedule permitting which he also had already been doing. He was supposed to seek her out first at all social events involving couples, but they didn't have many of those at the Tribute Academy. And occasionally he was supposed to make out with her at one of the security blind spots which he absolutely wanted to do as often as possible. A lot of guys told him he was lucky. Glimmer was gorgeous and very low maintenance. He asked Ajax what low maintenance meant. His brother's response had been quick and short. Low maintenance meant "everything Drusilla isn't."

He enjoyed the making out aspect more than he probably should, but nothing felt as good as Glimmer's lips or her body pressed against his. Before Glimmer desire had always involved fantasy women. He had imagined himself a Champion sleeping with a different glamorous woman every night. Some Champions even had lovers among the citizens of the Capital. There had been times when his father hinted that he thought Cato should follow that route. _A boy with your face can_ _get out_ _of the_ _districts_. Since Glimmer had become his girlfriend, that idea repulsed him. Since Glimmer, he hadn't thought about other women just her. He had even fantasized about letting his life deviate from his father's planned trajectory. Why should they wait for Glimmer to win the Games? He would marry her the year he won. That he was a Champion and she was a Tribute Academy cadet should be spectacle enough. Of course, he had never told anyone about his plan yet.

Accept the waiting was proving harder than anything he ever thought possible. He had the health classes. He knew the desires were normal and how to avoid blue balls. But he wanted Glimmer even after he masturbated. Lying in bed at night he imagined her head on his shoulder, a braid of golden hair draped across his neck or maybe sleeping on his stomach with her breasts as pillows. Luckily his mother never said anything about how often his sheets had to be changed.

Thor gave him a lot of unsolicited advice. Friendship required he listen politely. Some of it was interesting. "The best place for sex is the guest rooms the Academy has for Capital Visitors. Beds are enormous, so are the bathtubs, and women go crazy over the fancy furniture in there." Thor informed him.

"There are two Peacekeepers on duty at the entrance to that wing," Cato said.

"For some coin, they don't care who uses those rooms," Thor said.

That hadn't occurred to Cato. Though since meeting cousin Darius, he realized it shouldn't surprise him to learn that some Peacekeepers could be bribed to bend the rules.

Thor continued. "For a little more money Peacekeepers can get you wine and harder stuff."

It was illegal to sell alcohol to anyone Thor or his age in District Two, not that people didn't get around it. Until now Cato thought that only occurred in the more depressed areas where people thought they had no future. "If I want Scotch I can steal it from my father's liquor cabinet." He had never dared to do this, but the possibility existed. His father drank very little, but in the aftermath of Capital visitors he would never notice a missing bottle. The idea of stealing from his father stirred up a strange almost pleasurable fear in him.

Thor shook his head. "There's this herb they grow out in the far districts. You smoke it. It works like morphling, only there's no addiction."

"Why would you want that?" Cato asked.

Thor shrugged. "Because the Capital doesn't want us to have it. Some of our instructors use it. Your cousin Germanicus does."

That captured all of Cato's interest. Germanicus had been a champion thirteen years ago. "Why?"

Thor shrugged again. The gesture was beginning to irritate Cato. "They say it helps you relax. Training so much keeps us wired. What do you do to calm down when the adrenaline is still pumping, but you need to rest?"

Cato considered several long minutes before finding the answer. "I talk with Glimmer."

She was easy to talk to. Even with his mother, the shadow of the Games hung over their lives. But with Glimmer even though they often discussed fighting techniques or survival training, the Games were never the most important thing in their lives. Peace was lying on the grass in a park with his head in her lap while she talked about past good times when her mother wasn't drunk or under the influence of non-prescribed drugs. Her childhood had been poverty, but even so she had more good stories about her mother than he had of his family. He couldn't imagine his family enjoying life the way she described her and her mother did where simple meals became feasts because there was enough food and it wasn't flavorless mush. They had celebrated the Reapings with meat pies and candy. Cato realized he had never experienced the joy he saw in Glimmer's eyes remembering those days during any of his family's elaborate banquets. Once he was a Champion, they wouldn't have to attend his father's Reaping banquets if they didn't want to. They would have their own house like Drusilla and Ajax and his Peacekeeper relatives would be welcomed there anytime. And he wouldn't need morphling or an herb grown out in the far districts to live out the rest of his life with Glimmer.

Thor's advice was all good, but he doubted he would use it no matter how tight his pants got. He didn't want to suggest sex to Glimmer until he could actually marry her because when they got together he wanted it to be forever, not like the sleazy flings Thor had with any willing girl. He wasn't as naïve as Thor, Ajax, and everybody else thought he was. He might have had to think it over a bit after she confessed, "I only did the things that wouldn't get me pregnant," but he understood what she meant. The thought of beautiful, perfect Glimmer having to do whore things enraged him. He wanted to find those men and kill them. How dare they try to desecrate perfection?

He told Ajax what Glimmer had confessed to him. He wouldn't dare tell his father. Ajax seemed nonplussed.

"So how do you feel about her past?" That was all Ajax asked.

"Haven't thought about it." Which was the truth. The things that had happened in Glimmer's life before they met didn't seem relative to the life they had now. Like winning the first Hunger Games wiped the stain of treason from their family, whatever had occurred in Glimmer's life before had been burned away in the rigors of Academy training. "Besides it just proves how strong she is. She knows what it takes to survive."

Ajax nodded his agreement.

A question occurred to Cato. He had never dared ask before he and Ajax usually only talked about the Games. But their father wasn't around now. "Did you and Drusilla fool around when you were at the Academy?"

"Girls like Drusilla only fuck instructors." The venom in Ajax's voice surprised Cato. Usually that wasn't Ajax. It was like the recordings of Ajax from his time in the Arena. Maybe Drusilla had been forced into sexual activity with an instructor. Scandals did periodically arise. She had only done what she had to at the time same as Glimmer.

"But you married her anyway." _Just like I'll_ _marry Glimmer_.

Ajax didn't appreciate the compliment. "What choice did I have? She was the first female champion after me."

"But you're happy together now?" Cato asked.

Ajax didn't reply. Now he understood. Their father had made the decision. Cato didn't want that. He wouldn't accept that! He was going to marry Glimmer the year he won the Games regardless of whether or not there was a possibility of her being the next year's Champion. He would propose to her during his victory interview on Ceasar Flickerman's show with all of Panem watching. After that there was no way his father could stop them.

"I wish things hadn't happened that way," Cato said. It was the only thing he could think of to say to Ajax after what had been revealed.

Ajax nodded. His brother's expression became less hard, but still quite serious. "Has our father ever had anything done to you?"

Cato was confused again. "What do you mean?"

Ajax elaborated. "Has he ever taken you to doctors outside the Academy staff? Have you ever been given injections or vitamin supplements other than what is prescribed by the Academy."

"The Academy tests for synthetic enhancers," Cato reminded him.

"Neither the Academy or the Gamemakers can devise tests as fast as new formulas for synthetic enhancers are created in the labs at the Capital." Ajax said.

Cheating in the Games on such a scale had never occurred to Cato. Sure, he knew little things happened. The lazier districts even complained that the Tribute Academies were a form of cheating. What Ajax was suggesting was a blasphemy to the tradition of the Games.

"Our father would never involve himself in such treachery," Cato replied.

Ajax rolled his eyes and leaned closer until their faces nearly met. "Just be careful little brother. The world is a more treacherous place than you know."

Everything was progressing smoothly until he was paired with Glimmer for unarmed combat practice. It was to be expected. He was the best student in their age cohort. She was the best fighter out of all the girls. But his training only worked on the theoretical level once he was paired with Glimmer. He understood the mechanics of subduing a female opponent in his sleep. He had done it often enough with other female cadets and always won. But when his opponent became Glimmer neither body or mind functioned properly. Her skin was silk against his hands. He couldn't remember tactics because his head was filled with images of her naked body.

"Concentrate. You're losing your grip." Glimmer hissed in his ear.

"I thought I would give you an easy win," he managed to reply.

Her eyes sparkled. "Liar." But apparently she wasn't opposed to the idea because a moment later she flipped him unto his back. Their legs were intertwined. He could feel the heat from her thigh against his manhood and didn't think of how easy it was for a woman to incapacitate a man from that position. He thought about the soft vortex between them. Her elbow pressed down on his right arm hard enough to cause pain except one breast was against chest and he could feel the nipple burning like a coal into his skin. Perspiration gave her a golden glow. Her lips, wet and sublime, were only inches away. Suddenly that wasn't close enough and he was kissing her. No, he felt more like he was inhaling her as his tongue dove into her mouth. Only that sweet wetness could keep the fire in his body at bay. Without thinkin,g only instinct he rolled over Glimmer and pressed her back onto the mats. Sweat made their bodies slippery. He wanted to revel in the charge of raw need that flowed through him. He wanted to keep kissing her. He wanted to touch her everywhere. A sudden powerful, burst of water knocked him off her.

When he regained his senses the chief unarmed combat instructor, Gravius, was standing over him. Gravius still held a fire hose though it was turned to a drizzle. "Go take a shower, Cato. A cold one. Then report to me."

Fear coursed though him as powerfully as lust had before. A breakdown like that, in public, during training, there would be repercussions. At the very least, they would notify his father. He looked around for Glimmer, but couldn't see her. What had he done?

After the shower Gravius didn't berate him. He just said a meeting had been called. But meetings were never good. It usually meant a cadet was either in danger of being expelled from the Academy or was being expelled. Cato could hear the shouting as they approached the conference room. It was mostly his father screaming that Glimmer was a whore, that she ought to be expelled from the Tribute Academy, and that it was all part of a plot to deny their family their rightful honor in the Games. Gravius knocked on the door several times with no results. "Looks like you have to just walk on in," he said.

He nodded and stepped toward the door.

"Hey, kid," Gravius said.

He looked back.

Gravius gave him a thumbs up. "Gutsiest move I ever saw."

No one noticed when he entered the conference room. His father was still shouting with the Academy superintendent, Adolphus Bacchi, and two senior instructors. Ajax and his mother sat together quietly talking. Drusilla was with several other instructors. She looked happy, so they weren't talking about what had happened. He found Glimmer on a couch by the wall alone. "I'm so sorry."

She held out her hand. He took it and sat down beside her.

"It's not all your fault," she said.

"It is. I shouldn't have kissed you." He said.

"Cato, I know how to get a man off me if I don't want him there." She used the soft voice that until now only came out when they were alone.

But in a way they were alone now. Everyone was talking or shouting at someone else. No one seemed to notice they existed. Then he was struck by what she had just said. She would have done something to stop him on the mats if she had wanted him to stop! "You're not mad that I kissed you on the mats?"

"I probably should be, but it felt so good. It's never felt that good before. On some level I didn't want it to end, so I didn't stop you even though I should have." She stopped playing with his fingers and intertwined their hands. "You're the only man I ever want to touch me."

Suddenly it didn't matter how much trouble they were in because the universe was golden. He leaned close enough to whisper in her ear because even if everyone was ignoring them he didn't want to risk being overheard. "I want to marry you." Her eyes glistened. He wanted to kiss her so bad, he felt physical pain.

"Why don't you just let them sleep together?" That was Ajax's voice. He sounded tired and impatient as if the solution to the problem was simple and obvious and everyone else was stupid not to see it.

At least it stopped the screaming between his father and the Superintendent Bacchi.

His mother was the first person to speak. Her voice was at least an octave higher than usual. "They're children!"

"They're teenagers. Teenagers obsess over sex." Ajax was still nonchalant. He held up a folder. "His scores have been slipping in several categories. It's obvious he's been preoccupied."

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Their father roared.

At least, Superintendent Bacchi only shrugged. "All the males tend to have a slump in their later teenage years. It's natural."

"It's hormones," Ajax said.

"So give them both the drugs to suppress sexual urges. They use them with Avoxes all the time." Their father said.

"Those drugs interfere with bone and muscle growth. We never use them on cadets." Superintendent Bacchi said.

At least, they didn't have to worry about that. Cato watched his brother. Ajax leveled his gaze at Superintendent Bacchi. "We all know the kids in the dormitory sneak into each other's rooms."

Superintendent Bacchi's face reddened. "It's against the rules."

"Teenagers have always been able to outsmart rules. Drusilla certainly had some wild romps in her days in the dormitory." Ajax replied. No one contradicted him, but Drusilla's expression changed from unconcerned boredom to unabashed fury.

"The Academy cannot risk publicly tarnishing the reputation of its cadets regardless of whatever happens behind closed doors," Instructor Chandi said.

"Well, there's nothing whatsoever tarnishing about allowing dormitory cadets to spend their weekends with the families of fellow cadets who live in the city. In fact, it's encouraged." Ajax said.

That was certainly true. It was considered a way to foster camaraderie and sportsmanship within the Academy though Cato had never been allowed to have a friend visit for purely social reasons. He didn't think Ajax had been allowed friend guests either.

"I have an excellent guest room in my house. I would like to cordially an extend an invitation to cadet Glimmer to be our houseguest on her next free weekend." Ajax said smartly, formally as if what was being suggested was the most proper of social invitations.

Drusilla shot out of her chair and went over to Ajax. "Not in my house. I am still your wife by the law."

"We have better guest rooms in our house. The girl can visit us officially. Whatever occurs between her and my son is between them and the walls," his father said.

"Severus!" his mother practically screeched.

His father silenced her with the stare of a Champion. "His training has been affected. We do whatever must be done to correct that."

People were nodding all around them. Cato felt the cold creep up his spine faster than anything else. Most guys he knew would only feel only overwhelming happiness at the prospect of getting sex without sneaking around. He had parental aid and encouragement at least as far as his father was concerned. Of course, he knew it wasn't because of any concern for how he and Glimmer felt about each other. Everyone except Ajax and maybe his mother could care less. All they saw was the Games and nothing could be allowed to jeopardize that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

He went to Ajax for advice before going to guestroom. He certainly didn't want to ask his father anything. "Do I look all right?" Cato asked.

"What are you, a woman?" Ajax replied. Then the smirk receded from his mouth. He reached out and checked the shave on each side of Cato's face. "No, just a virgin." He patted Cato's shoulder. "You look good, little brother. She'll be pleased with what she sees."

"I should have bought flowers," Cato said.

Ajax's smirk returned briefly. "At the point you are going into a bedroom with her, flowers are no longer necessary, but I shouldn't be the one telling you that. Our father should be, but that will never happen. You should be older. Our mother would say you should be married. And above all else this shouldn't be about making you the fittest for the Games. But you have feelings for your girl and she cares for you, so enjoy what happiness you can have."

"Is that what our father told you when you married Drusilla?" Cato asked.

Ajax's face darkened. "Our father told me to breed strong warriors for the Games." He touched Cato's shoulder again. "All you need to remember is apologize profusely when you come too early."

He could feel his cheeks burning. "You think that will happen."

"You'll be lucky not to spray your shorts." Ajax's smile became genuine again. "It's the nature of the universe. Your first time is always embarrassing."

There was light underneath the door. Glimmer had already arrived, so he knocked. That seemed like the right thing to do. She opened the door, held out her hand, and he crossed over the threshold wordlessly. She was wearing a robe also, but it was thinner, softer and more see through. He had to look away or his brother's prophecy would be fulfilled.

Glimmer broke the silence. "Everything in your house is like a palace."

He found his voice. "The guest rooms are more ornate to impress people." That was certainly true. There was no finer bedroom furniture in the house. He wondered why his parents had told them to use this room. Maybe it was sign that they accepted Glimmer? He watched her perfect hand glide over the dresser. She belonged here. Soon enough they would all agree.

She sat down on the bed and raised her gaze up to meet his. "What do you want me to do?"

His mouth felt dry, his body felt hot, and even though they were indoors the wind screamed through his ears. "What do you want to do?"

She went to him. "I've never seen you nervous before."

"I've never had a girlfriend before and I've never had a failure in training before. I don't want to fail again either way," he admitted.

She kissed his cheek; then, his lips wrapping her arms around his waist and bringing them closer. The heat in his body went molten and his manhood already had a mind of its own.

"No one's ever said anything that sweet to me ever." Another kiss on the lips and they were making out they had been on the mats. She opened her mouth for his plundering at only the barest whisper of please. Did she not realize her own power? Did she not know he would beg to taste her? She undid her robe. Her skin was hot silk against his chest. He couldn't see anything because of the explosions behind his eyes, but he could imagine her body and the strong muscles beneath silken skin. He was on fire. His manhood seemed to have grown by feet instead of inches into some vast and terrible rocket capable of pulling him up out of the room and soaring into outer space. Faster and faster the hot winds pummeled his body and then a supernova's explosion so sweet with pleasure he saw stars. Urgh! Ajax had been right. His knees gave way and he fell down to the carpet. He remembered Ajax's advice. Apologize profusely. _Apologize profusely._ How the fuck was he supposed to apologize for such a fucking embarrassing mistake? Instead all he could do was gaze up at Glimmer and stammer two words. "I'm sorry."

She smiled "It's okay. Let's get in bed."

While she turned back the bed covers, he got up from the floor. His shorts were disgusting. Glimmer glanced in his direction then brought him a towel. When he hesitated, she furrowed her brow in imitation of one of their instructors. "Take them off and clean yourself up."

He did as he was told. She sounded almost like his mother. That was a frightening thought. He should keep that idea in his head in case he needed a way to keep a hard-on down in the future. At least, he saved himself some humiliation by looking away when she tossed off her robe and climbed into bed.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" she said.

"If you want me to I will." That was the absolute lamest, most pathetic thing he had ever uttered in his life.

"Cato, come to bed," she ordered.

"I'm still welcomed?" He tried to suppress a grin because he did know how she would interpret it.

She nodded. "You kissed me first, but I kissed you back."

In his nervousness and later embarrassment he had nearly forgotten that she wanted him. The awesomeness of that nearly overwhelmed him. He got into bed. Glimmer slid next to him. She laid her head against his left shoulder and cupped his right shoulder with one hand. "Do we stay like this for the rest of the night?" he asked.

She smiled. Her eyes radiated warmth. "Cato, you're in perfect health close to your biology peak of sexual stamina. You can have more than one erection in a night."

And that was the most perfect thing for her to say because suddenly he couldn't stop laughing. But it was good laughter. It reminded him of how they encouraged each other to push even farther and harder during training. They were a team again. His arms left his side and went around her. Her skin was satin over steel and he only wanted to touch every inch of her. Suddenly, she flung all the bed covers off them.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

There was a gleam in her eyes he hadn't seen before, but he liked it.

"I like looking at you. You're so beautiful." She said.

Beautiful? He was a warrior. He was strong. His body was a finely disciplined killing tool. He had never expected anyone to call him beautiful least of all a girl who could reduce him to speechlessness with the right glance. "Beautiful?" he repeated the word.

She nodded. Her fingers fanned out along his chest. "Everything about you is perfect and golden. It makes me think about the old legends of Apollo, the sun god, or the way they sometimes paint angels in church."

He pulled her arms back to get an unobstructed view of her body. "You don't look anything like nude models they paint."

She frowned. "Really?"

"Really, you're a lot prettier," he said. "And warmer. You look like a woman who would talk to me even if I wasn't a Champion.'

Her eyes were soft, wet. "I never thought I would have someone like you, Cato."

"I don't understand?" He admitted.

She held up his chin with two fingers. "You were the first man who looked at my eyes, not my breasts when we met."

"I look at your breasts sometimes," he said.

She kissed his cheek. "But not all the time."

Her soft breasts collided with his chest and he felt the sting burning all the way to his back. What did she have under there? It couldn't just be muscle, fat, and bone. Her body seemed to be made of energy. Next kiss he initiated. "In the ancient Olympic Games, the wrestlers use to fight naked."

She ran fingers down his back. "Wrestling is how all this got started. Do you want to wrestle?"

He pushed her back against the mattress. "While my dick is behaving, I want to explore."

He was surprised by her softness. No not surprised, amazed. He knew there was muscle under her skin. That was from training. But her body was something else, completely different from his in regard to texture. He revealed in the satiny feel of her. Remembering the soft explosions during the kiss his mind raced with possibilities. "Where all can I kiss you?"

She looked amused. "Anywhere. Just about anywhere is an erogenous zone when it comes to your kisses?"

"Err, what?" He was confused.

She touched his cheek the same way his brother had. "You really don't know that much about this. Didn't your father ever talk to you about sex?"

He kissed her palm. "My father talks to me about the Games. Until my breakdown in training women, dating, sex that was all for after I win."

"Erogenous is just the best way to say it feels good, sexy good. It puts me in the mood." She said.

_And just about anywhere on your body is an_ _erogenous zone when it comes to my kisses!_ _Glimmer, you're the best girlfriend in the world._ Cautiously he touched her breast.

"I'm not glass," she whispered.

"You're soft. Way softer than me in this area." Her nipple hardened. He knew that could happen under a lot of circumstances: cold air, icy water, or just any water in general even her sweat, but right now this moment under his hand; it sent a surge through him like nothing else. _She_ _wants you and if you don't screw up screwing she'll still want you tomorrow._ The stakes were as high at this moment as they would in the Games. He felt Glimmer caressing his arm.

"Kiss me," she said.

He went back to her mouth. Her lips were velvet, but wet and warm, pushing back the nervousness and leaving desire bare. When he left her mouth, soft, encouraging moans emboldened him. Her flesh was smooth, so easy to roll his tongue down, until he captured one nipple between his lips. Okay, he wasn't completely sure what he was supposed to do at that point, other than no teeth, but judging from her reactions he was figuring it out all right. He rolled the sweet point on the edge of his mouth and bathed her with his tongue. She raked her fingers through his hair and started to guide him. Of course, it made sense that such stimulation was pleasant for her, but he was finding it more exciting than he thought it would be. The sounds she made seemed to vibrate through him. Her voice could do what he only believed was possible with hands before and he loved it. He wondered if she would say his name before it was over and how he would feel when he heard those syllables tumble out of her. Then he left her breasts and eased her alabaster thighs apart.

Glimmer raised up on her elbows. "You don't have to, if you don't want to,"

"I want to," he replied. Cautiously he touched the outer curve on the lips of the mound. Too soft for glass, but just as delicate. "They say a woman comes easiest this way. I want you to come before I do." He felt his cheeks flaming again "I mean before I come the second time tonight." Carefully, he moved his little finger into the edge of the inner space. "I know all the terms from health class: vulva, labia." His gaze shot back to Glimmer's eyes. "Clitoris," he pronounced the word carefully. "They seem too clinical. The other terms I know from talking with Thor, are too crude." He started to caress her with his fingers. She seemed to like it. Her eyes definitely changed for the better.

"We can invent our own names," she said,

He touched the edges of her sex again. "Little pillows?"

"What are the big pillows?" she asked.

He couldn't stop his lips curving into a smile. "Your amazing breasts."

She rewarded him by giggling. It was a good sound indicating that maybe this was going better than he had expected. At the very least, she hadn't told him to stop doing anything so far. He leaned down and ran his tongue across her velvety center. She jolted upward and gasped, but nodded immediately afterward. Okay, he was on the right trail. He licked at the soft lips until they were more like gelatin than pillows against his cheek and managed to find the clitoris without any help. Delicately he touched the bud with one finger and gazed up at her. "The sweet spot?"

She nodded. Her breathing had changed from a regular pace to panting. That was good right? They were actually doing this! He was going to become a man tonight! And it would be with his girlfriend not some random hook-up which was better. It sure felt better than he had ever imagine sex was going to be and his imagination had been pretty intense. If he could make her come it would be like a preamble to winning the Games. He closed his lips around the pleasure bud and felt her opening to him body and soul. Now was the time for even softer caresses than he made on her nipples. He had understood on an intellectual level that he was supposed to want to please her tonight. After all reciprocity was the core of being a good lover. But he wasn't prepared for the need. Her taste was a drug.

She unraveled under his lips. Not like the actresses in romantic movies with soft sighs and tears of joy, but with a wild, shrilly squeal that stretched extra syllables out of his name. It was like the way Glimmer fought, nothing staged nothing fake, only pure emotion. In the Arena it was the thrill of the kill, but here it was only pure pleasure. And he had been the one to give it to her! He wiped his mouth and chin and lay down beside her on the pillow. "You look radiant."

Her hand came back around his head pulling him closer. "You are the best boyfriend ever."

"How do you feel?" he asked.

Her hands found his manhood. He started to burn. "Like I want to feel that way again as soon as possible," she said.

He was on top of her, but she was the one really in charge. She guided him across her body; then, guided his manhood against the hot gates he had nicknamed the little pillows earlier. She felt like silk not glass, hot wet silk and that only inflamed him further. He encountered a barrier he hadn't expected. He always thought Glimmer had more sexual experienced though he knew it was unwillingly acquired.

"I don't want to hurt you," he managed to say.

"You won't." She wrapped her hot legs against his back and urged him forward

Maybe she wasn't lying. The barrier only held for a second and Glimmer's only response sounded like satisfaction rather than pain. Their gazes locked. Her eyes were filled with fire. She was everything he wanted in the universe and she wanted him back! Locked in the hot, wet vortex of her he felt like a man, like a Champion, and like this was the greatest night of his life. Probably, not even winning the Games, would feel this good. Glimmer's voice encouraged him with every stroke.

"You are good, Cato! You are really good!" She exclaimed.

"I've had lots of practice," he managed to say.

"With whom?" Her voice was shrilly.

"My right hand. Sometimes the left." He admitted. "It was always better when I imagined I was with you."

"And now?" she demanded.

"This is even better." He struggled to remember words and not bellow out her name.

Her teeth sank into his shoulder. Exquisite pain. He could take more of it, much more, but was it a sign he was doing something wrong. He tried to slow down. Her nails scored his back.

"Don't you dare? Don't you dare?" Glimmer chanted.

Then the moment came just like it had under his lips earlier when she froze, came undone, and he heard his name echoing in the hot, sweat vortex of their entwined bodies. Just in time because he wasn't so sure he could concentrate much longer. With a kiss he joined her in pleasure and it was like all the power in the universe came surging through their bodies in one gigantic push. Afterwards there was only a soft peace he had never experienced before. This was what it felt it like when neither fear nor rage ruled him. He never expected to reach such a state until after he became a champion, but not even winning the Games would give him the completeness he found in Glimmer's arms. Sweat had cooled their skin until they were nearly cold when he disengaged from her and rolled onto his pillow. "Do you want more blankets?"

She turned her face to him. "Get me a towel and a wet washcloth."

"No problem." But it nearly was. He staggered when he left the bed. Who would have thought intercourse would be so exhausting. Luckily the guestroom had its own attached bathroom. He brought her the washcloth and towel. They disappeared under the sheets she had pulled up around her. He got back into bed. So many things flashed in his head, but his body felt like he just survived a grueling workout. Every muscle cried for sleep. Somehow he found the strength to sweep the hair back from Glimmer's forehead. "I didn't think I would be the first."

Her eyes looked sated for once. "I told you. I only did the things that wouldn't get me pregnant."

He moved closer to her until their foreheads touched. "You're my first."

A soft, real smile crossed her face. "Wow."

"Sure you don't want more blankets?" he asked again just to be on the safe side.

"No, but you can keep me warm." She gestured for him to lie down on top of her. Sweet, soft heaven! Her breasts were wonderful.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Cato woke up on top of Glimmer. Even after the night's activities, she was still awesomely beautiful. He watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed. He remembered the words poets used: rosebuds, rubies, coral cherries. They seemed too silly to be appropriate. But her nipples did seem better than those of other woman, rounder, softer, and a homing beacon to his mouth. After a few sucks, she woke up and playfully batted him away.

"Were you breast fed until twelve?" she asked grinning.

He kissed her cheek and got out of bed. "I have to go running. If my father doesn't believe this improves my training, we'll never spend another night together."

"I'll go with you," she said.

He remembered the blood last night. "Shouldn't you take it easy? I mean aren't you sore?"

"I've walked and ran after considerably rougher intrusions into my body," she replied.

The reality of what she meant with the words, _I have done the things that won't get me pregnant_, slammed into him. He sat back down on the bed, grabbed her hand, but it took several minutes before he could raise his gaze up to meet hers. "I'll never ask you for sex like that."

Her lips flatlined. "Then let's not talk about it ever again."

He nodded. He should say something, but what?

Glimmer got up from the bed, opened her gym bag, and took out workout clothes. "If we run now, it will just be the two of us on the trails. Afterwards, we can take a shower together to save water."

He handed her the muscle ointment. "You jog, I'll run around you. We don't have to share the shower to save water."

She giggled. "Okay, then we'll share the shower and stay in there twice as long."

He understood her idea now. It was a very intriguing concept. He grabbed her at the waist and pulled their bodies together. "I would love to save water with you."

They ran Glimmer's favorite trail in the woods outside the city. He could see why she liked it. It was quiet and cool in the woods. With all the slopes and rises it was probably better training for the Games also. Maybe they could do most of their running here together. After a few miles she pulled him off the main path and they started circling up into the hills.

"I want to show you my favorite place," Glimmer said.

She led him through a series of small trails until they came to the back of a stone building. "It's a quarry workers' chapel. They make them by hand and the labor is considered part of the worship. My mother use to take me here on good days. My grandfather worked on the inside ceiling."

Masonry was the district's most famous industry, but he had very little contact with the workers other than when they cheered for Champions of the Games. They worked shorter hours than he trained, but very few workers had the luxuries champions and their families enjoyed. He also knew, they received less education than trainees, yet they had managed to build this and Glimmer indicated this was only one of the many chapels they had built. They walked around to the front. The parking lot was covered in vehicles and caravans. An enormous tent had been erected on the other side.

"I guess you can show me the inside later," Cato said. He already planned to run these trails with her next weekend, if they could.

However, a man came up to them before they could leave. "Wait. Wait. This is a wedding, come join us?"

"It wouldn't be right for us to intrude invited," Glimmer said.

"I'm the bride's father. I invite you. Please, come," the man said.

People were gathering around them. Workers! He had never been so close to ordinary people. They didn't look that different. He wondered what they thought about him and Glimmer in their Tribute Academy running clothes.

"Thank you so very much, but we are both sweaty messes. It would be rude to the bride to appear like this," Glimmer said.

The man who invited them turned to other guest. "Charlie, you got spare clothes, the young man can borrow?"

"If I don't, sure enough somebody who came in a caravan does," Charlie replied.

A woman was at Glimmer's elbow. "Please come with me, miss. I'm sure I've got something that would be pretty on you."

Ten minutes later, his sweat washed off with a hose, Cato was dressed in the tan slacks and white shirt that was the common dress clothing of a working class man. His host draped a tie around his neck. "Thank you," Cato said.

"No, thank you," the man responded.

He didn't understand. "Why?"

"Because you volunteer, our children don't get reaped," the man replied.

He had never considered what the Reaping meant to the untrained. It would be a source of terror of eminent death, not pride for a quarry worker's son. He knew there were districts that did not bother training Tributes, a fact he had always attributed that to their lack of sportsmanship. Those were the Tributes that died first. His father referred to them as easy pickings. Cato had never thought about them until this moment. Then he saw Glimmer and all other thoughts were driven from his mind. She was wearing a pink dress, full at the shirt, tight at the chest and non-existent over her shoulders. She still had on her running shoes, but that was cool. He liked that their shoes matched. When she came to him, he couldn't stop smiling. "I've never seen you in a dress before."

She straightened the tie up to his collar. "I've never seen you dressed up either. Come on, everyone is going inside.

He had never been in a chapel. This one was one of the smallest public buildings he had ever encountered. And it was standing room only. He tried to remember Ajax and Drusilla's wedding and drew a blank though he must have attended. Had their vows been like this? The ones he heard today seemed to echo through the entire chapel. _Make of our hands, one hand. Make of our hearts one heart. Make of our vows, one great vow. Not even death can harm us now_. Last night hadn't just been physical release. He never wanted to be that vulnerable with anyone, but Glimmer. Somehow she knew what he was thinking. When he reached for her hand, she laid her head on his shoulder. Magic! Standing in a workers chapel he had never felt more at peace.

The feast afterwards was a dietician's nightmare: fried pork, sweet sauces, and grain alcohol. At least the dancing would undo any damage. The workers danced like Glimmer fought: wild and free. When Glimmer didn't want to dance he socialized with the workers. Many were only slightly older than him, but their lives were so different. Their only time clocks were quarry schedules. They worked their shifts, but after that their afternoons and nights were free. No evening knife classes or late night work outs dominated their schedules. They had girlfriends, sometimes wives already who were just women that liked the same type of music or maybe they could cook really well. But there was no breeding for fitness. As usual when Glimmer wasn't in hearing range, men congratulated him on a having a beautiful girlfriend. He corrected them. After last night, Glimmer was his fiancée, absolutely no question about it. Some of the men seemed shocked that there were female Tribute trainees. Didn't they pay attention to the Games?

"If Glimmer's a Tribute, won't you have to fight her in the Games?" the guy sitting next to Cato asked.

"No, we'll compete in different years. She'll be a Champion the year after I win," Cato said.

The guy persisted. "And then what happens? You become trainers?"

Glimmer returned to the group at the moment. She must have heard her name. "What are you talking about?"

Cato pulled her down beside him. He wondered if she would sit on his lap like he noticed some of the worker couples did, but decided not to try it. It might be a little too close for his comfort while they were in public. "He asked what happens after we become champions."

Her forehead wrinkled. "And what did you tell him?"

"What do think? I'll win the Games. You'll win the Games the year afterward. We'll get married and raise the next generation of Champions. ." He kissed her hand.

Her smile was barely a crease. "You sound so confident."

Was she angry? He had sounded kind of arrogant. Ajax always said arrogance would cause him trouble. A strange sort of fear ran through him. Until now his source of fear had been disappointing his father. But now disappointing Glimmer was an equally upsetting situation.

"Sometimes your optimism scares me," Glimmer said.

He tapped her forehead. He had seen the workers make the gesture as a playful way to indicate something silly had been said. "How can optimism scare you?"

She turned even more serious. "Because too often things don't pan out and all your hopes crash against the rocks."

He took her hand and stood up. "That's silly. Let's dance some more."

When it was time to leave a woman brought his running clothes to him fresh and clean. Someone had washed and dried their clothes during the party. Well, at least the run back would sweat them up again enough for his father. While he waited for Glimmer more, older men came up to thank him. When he protested, he hadn't won the Games yet, they all said it didn't matter; just that he volunteered was sacrifice enough.

"Your people are nice," he told Glimmer as they ran.

She looked at him puzzled. "My people?"

"You said your grandfather carved some of the stones for chapel. He must have been one of them." Something has been puzzling him for several hours. "How come your mother never went back to them?" He knew the quarry workers lives weren't all wedding parties and drinking in the forest, but it couldn't be as bad as dancing nude and whoring in the Vicehood.

Pain shot across her face and he urged her to stop.

"It's not the training. It's not the training!" she increased the pace.

He reached for her arm. "Then what?"

"He wasn't one of them," she blurted out.

"Who?" he asked.

"My father whoever he was, wasn't one of them. They'll care for their own widows and orphans, but not bastards born without father," she said.

He could see this was a sword to her stomach. He couldn't think of what to say then it came to him with the force of an avalanche. "She loved you a lot. All my father loves is the Games." Her lips were flames that threatened to consume his body, but he found the willpower not to carry her into the woods. "After I win the Games, we're getting married."

"Unless I am also a Champion your father will object," she said.

"Ajax will convince the Capital, it's a better story if an ordinary woman marries a Champion every now and then. If the Capital approves, my father will love it." Just saying the idea out loud made him feel better.

It was near twilight when they arrived at Glimmer's dormitory. They paused in the cove where the security cameras had a blind spot and she let him kiss her again, truly, deeply, their lips and tongues trying to capture enough of each other to make it through the next week.

"I should have picked up my things at your house," Glimmer said.

Ajax had always told him, women were the pragmatic ones in relationships. "Do you need anything?"

She shook her head.

"Just leave the stuff at my place. I'll clean out a drawer for you." He said.

"A drawer?" She had that what-do-you-really-mean expression in her gaze.

It wasn't as hard to say as he thought it would be. "Yeah, you should just move into my room on weekends. The guest room kind of creeps me out."

When she smiled, he understood why the quarry workers seemed so happy even though they were only quarry workers.

Night had fallen when he made it back home. Luckily his workout clothes were soaked because his father was waiting at the door. "Where have you been? What have you been doing?" His father demanded.

Cato slapped his pedometer into his father's hand. "I did over a marathon today, up in the hills over variable terrain."

"That still leaves a lot of time unaccounted," his father said.

"I attended a quarry workers wedding," Cato said heading down the hall. Maybe if he moved fast enough he could avoid an argument.

"The quarry workers' union has a lot of money. That can translate into some major sponsorship." Ajax said coming to his defense. Lately, Ajax always seemed to be at their parents' house rather than his house with Drusilla.

"At least, you've got that girl out of your system," his father said.

Cato turned around. "According to my trainers I should adopt a schedule of regular sexual release to avoid chronic frustration negatively impacting my fighting skills. Having Glimmer sleep over every Saturday should be adequate." He didn't wilt under his father's gaze. This was the best day of his life!

Ajax high-fived him after their father left. "Well done! I didn't have that much courage at your age. One piece of advice, little brother, you only want Glimmer sleeping over three weekends out of every month."

"I want as much time with my girlfriend as I can get," Cato said.

"Trust me, one weekend month, you will not want to be around her," Ajax said.

He figured out what Ajax meant a few weeks later. It wasn't a problem. Blood only reminded him of the Games. His life couldn't be better. He gave Glimmer more than a drawer in his room. Her stuff spread out everywhere which was cool because it reminded him of her when she wasn't with him. His mother bought Glimmer a dress like one of Drusilla's , but in colors to flatter her, so she had appropriate clothing to join them at dinner even when they had important guests. His mother gave them other things that he didn't understand: a flower vase she reminded him to fill before Glimmer arrived, pastel sheets with lace on the edges, and hair things for Glimmer. He discovered he loved brushing out her hair until it crackled with static.

"Thank you for being nice to Glimmer," he told his mother as they were straightening up his room before Glimmer arrived.

"Sometimes when I pass by your door, I hear the two of you laughing. You seem very happy together." His mother said.

"Does it remind you of when you and my father were young?" he asked.

No smile crossed his mother's lips. "No."

"The year after I win the Games, I'm going to marry her," he said.

His mother's face lightened a little. She touched his cheek. "It's good to have goals for after the Games."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

With Glimmer at his side Cato's Academy scores soared. They skyrocketed past the stratosphere out into the void where no Tribute cadet had gone before. Even his father was forced to admit his progress was impressive. Thor was less grudging in praise, but still guarded. "You should know, there are envious eyes on your back. A lot more than there ever were before," Thor told him when they ran out on the trails where it was impossible for the Academy to monitor their conversations.

"Why?" Thor's extreme caution seemed paranoid to him. There was always more jealousy as cadets entered the last years of training. It was the nature of competition.

"Right now you're the Golden Boy with the highest scores and you have a beautiful girlfriend with whom you don't have to sneak around or pay bribes to have sex. It's a luxury no Academy cadet has had in recent memory. Even some of the instructors resent it. Watch your back." Thor said.

That hadn't occurred to him, but it was reasonable. Their instructors were all either former Champions or former cadets. Weekends with Glimmer were an extraordinary privilege, but he wasn't going to give them up just to please sexually frustrated adults. He was almost an adult himself and he knew above all else that Glimmer was good for his training. It wasn't just in fighting skills either. Glimmer improved his academics. She spent a lot of time in the Academy Library. It was so quiet and boring there was nothing to do, but study while Glimmer poured over ancient manuscripts and old filmstrips. Sometimes he teased her for spending so much time on such obscure information.

"I want to know about the past," she said.

"Don't you get enough of that in history class?" he asked.

She leaned so close to whisper her answer in his ear it felt like foreplay. "You know most of what they tell us in class isn't the truth."

Actually he hadn't thought about that ever. He knew the truth of his own family's history. The rest was just facts to be memorized and repeated on tests or whenever necessary in interviews, not something to be considered or analyzed.

"Don't you ever wonder what's beyond Panem?" she asked.

He hadn't thought about that either. His life was the Games. Until meeting Glimmer he had thought that was enough. Sometimes the questions she sparked sent his mind reeling. "Not really. We've got it good here, so why worry about somewhere else?"

"Not everybody has had as good a life as you," she said.

He remembered the horror in her childhood. Why hadn't he thought of that before he spoke? Because Glimmer was so perfect sometimes he forgot the mud she came out of. "I'm sorry."

"I know you didn't mean anything bad by it." Her voice was soft again. She believed him! She showed him pictures she had found of Olympic champions. He knew the Olympics had been predecessors of the Games. Only the Olympic Tributes had been adults mostly and they hadn't fought to the death.

"One of my mother's Peacekeeper lovers served in District 5. Sometimes when the Peacekeepers patrolled out into the ocean past the fishing boats, they could see ships in the distance. Ships with different flags. Some of the ones he described were like the ones they show here." She pointed to different flags in the album. "Canada, Brazil, China, Russian Commonwealth. These countries may still exist."

"Then why don't we hear about them visiting the Capital when it's time for the Games? It's the biggest news in Panem. Surely it would be newsworthy to foreigners?" Cato said.

"Maybe they don't want to know about the Games? Maybe the Games are the reason they don't want anything to do with Panem?" Glimmer said.

Cato's hand shot up to cover her mouth. That was dangerously close to treason.

The room started to tremble. She grabbed his hand and pulled him up. "We need to get out of here."

"Is it an earthquake?" He had heard of earthquakes, but never experienced one. Sometimes, they were even part of the Arena in the Games.

"We're not in earthquake territory," she said pulling him along.

Outside the air was thick with smoke and dust. Emergency personnel and Peacekeepers scurried around them. A medic shinned a scanner into Cato's eyes. "You're fine. Head to the perimeter." The medic pointed at a wall of Peacekeepers further away.

"What's happening?" Cato shouted.

Glimmer pushed him forward. "Quiet. Just keep walking until we're safe."

She wouldn't let him turn around until they had passed through the Peacekeeper barricade. When he did his blood ran cold. A nightmare had been at their backs. Black smoke bellowed up from the spot where the senior dorms had been. Fire still burned in the rubble. This was a free period after evening meal. Most cadets would have been in their rooms. He could see bodies being brought out wrapped in bloody sheets, but very few live victims for the medics to work on. By nightfall all anyone could talk about was the gas leak that led to a tragic explosion in the senior dorm of the Academy. It wasn't until his cousin Darius traveled through the district that they found out the truth. Even his father and Drucilla came to dinner that night.

"There was a fertilizer bomb again, so we would know it was same group and they used something new. Remote-controlled aerial bombs that flew through the windows." Darius told them.

His mother's grip nearly cut off circulation in Cato's hand. Glimmer sat at his other side. Her hand was loose, cold, and clammy.

Ajax assessed the information. "District 3 and 5 have the technology for remote-controlled bombs."

"Possible, but I don't see them as the origin point," Darius said. "Usually Fredrich's forensic team processes all crime scene evidence in District 2. This time a team from the Capital took everything before all the bodies were even identified." Darius's gaze turned to Cato. "My condolescenes over the friends you lost."

Cato nodded his thanks, but Glimmer found the right words. "Thank you for valuing the lives of strangers."

"Not all Peacekeepers are heartless," Darius replied.

Cato's mother finally spoke. "You must not spend anymore time at the Academy than necessary. Attend your classes, but you can study at home."

"I want Glimmer to move here," Cato said.

"Absolutely not!" His father thundered.

"Why not? She sleeps here on weekends. It might affect my training if I'm worried about her safety." Cato said.

Darius covered his mouth with his hand. A nasty cat smile spread out across Drusilla's face. Cato wanted to slap her. "You're learning little brother, but there is only so much leniency the Academy will allow," Ajax said.

"I wasn't trying to have you move in just so we could have sex more often," Cato told Glimmer later that night while they ran. He had got his mother to agree that a few laps around their neighborhood with its fortified gates and increased Peacekeeper patrols was probably safe.

"I know." She reached for his hand while they ran. Even on such a bleak night, she could still make him happy to be alive.

"One thing's sure with so many dead, I should be going into the Games at least a year earlier," he said.

"Why do you think I won't be going into the Games next? I am a few months older." She taunted.

He knew her question was just for laughs, but it brought them to the edge of a subject he wanted to discuss, but hadn't dared before. Might as well cross here. "I don't want you to ever go into the Games," he said.

She rolled her eyes, but not in the hard way. "Don't be silly, Cato."

He stopped the run, put his hands on her shoulders and tried to look tough, but concerned. "I'm serious. You're a good fighter, but anything can happen in the Games. We've all seen years where the best fighter wasn't the victor. I don't want to lose you. Couldn't you drop out of the Academy?"

Glimmer's eyes turned harder than he had ever seen them, harder even then that first day in the cafeteria. There were daggers just under the irises ready to skew him alive. She shoved his hands away. "And do what? Dance naked in the Vicehood? Whore myself out to some decrepit old Peacekeeper?"

Suddenly, he was grasping at straws. "Your grandfather was a quarry worker. Isn't there some way you could go back to your family there? An aunt or a cousin who would take you in until I'm a Champion and we can get married?"

Her anger was like fire out of control and as frightening as his father's wrath. "You think I haven't tried that?" she shouted. "Once my mother was cast out, she was cast out for good. The quarry workers have a strong society, but it's a strict society. There's no mercy for bastards." She ran away from him.

It took him over a mile to catch up with her. Her face was still blazing and something else. Her nose was rosy and her eyes were wet. Glimmer didn't cry! He felt like Thor had gotten a lucky punch right into the center of his solar plexus.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" He said it over and over until finally she stopped or maybe it was just exhaustion. She had been running way faster than usual. He didn't have any tissue, so he pulled off his shirt to wipe her eyes. "I don't want to lose you," he said.

"It's sweet, Cato. The sweetest thing ever that you want to protect me. But you can't. The Academy is my only chance. It's the Academy or selling my body." She said.

She wasn't angry anymore, but it was something worse, a doomed sorrow that twisted a knife in his stomach. He knew she was right even if it wasn't fair and he didn't know what else to do, but hold her. A flame flickered inside him. _There should be another way_. But he didn't know how to even begin looking for that path. They went back to the Academy and he gave the Peacekeepers their bribe, so they could use the special guestrooms that were the only ones in District Two good enough for people from the Capital. The rooms weren't that great in Cato's opinion. He had seen just as good in his or his relatives' houses, but at least they didn't seem as tainted by his father or the Games.

"Your father is going to be mad when you don't come home," she said as he lowered her into the giant tub. After so much running her muscles needed the warm water.

"It's more important for us to stay together tonight," he said.

She kissed him with her teeth. "Why?"

"Because if I can't keep you safe, at least, I can give you pleasure." The voice coming out of his throat didn't seem like his at all now. The explosion had changed them, remade them, like fire tempered steel, and he didn't feel like a boy anymore even if he wasn't really a man yet.

Her limbs twisted around him like iron bars. "Can you make me forget about the terrorists?" she asked. Her eyes were growing wet again.

He sucked up the saltwater. "I can try."

He tried most of the night, in the oversized bathtub, on the rug just outside and finally on the bed where he let Glimmer take over for awhile doing things to him he wouldn't have thought would be pleasurable, but he learned he could quickly get addicted to. The next morning when Ajax brought him fresh clothes, his brother acted shocked. "Are you sure she was willing?" Ajax said while Cato changed shirts.

"She said they were love bites," Cato replied. He relished the proof of Glimmer's affections even if he would have to exercise fully clothed for awhile.

"Tell her to be more careful. You need baby smooth skin for the Games." Ajax said.

"It's not that bad," Cato said. Ajax's comments weirded him out. He knew enough from Thor and other guys that nothing he and Glimmer did last night was extremely kinky. That Ajax thought it was made him wonder how perfunctory Drusilla and Ajax's marriage was. He probably didn't want to know the answer to that just like he didn't like to think too long about how his parents' lived. Whatever the future held for Glimmer and him, it had to be better than that.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

After the bombing the world changed. The debris dust never seemed to wash away and everything was dirty. Cato noticed things he hadn't before: people eating out of trashcans and how everyone tensed up when Peacekeepers were around. Glimmer told him none of this was new. The more he saw the more he appreciated Thor's cynicism. Sometimes the world was just fucked up. They still ran in the hills when they could, but they never encountered a big quarry worker wedding party again. Glimmer said it was because District One had won the Games three years in a row. Without the extra food bonuses a Champion's district got very few people were able to save up the means to host elaborate wedding celebrations. Sometimes they encountered smaller wedding parties however. Always the people invited them to join and served them food nearly as good as the bride and groom got. Always the women were happy to loan Glimmer their finery and always the men thanked Cato saying because you volunteer our children don't get Reaped.

On those evenings he and Glimmer had sex in the woods during their run home because he gave his bribe money to the couple. He didn't like sleeping with her at his parents' house that much though she spent the periodic night, so no one would grow suspicious of his changing attitudes. At least in the woods, he and Glimmer could actually talk without fear of listening devices. Sometimes she said the wildest things after sex.

"You know, if I didn't have you, I would join the Rebels," Glimmer said, not like a joke, but very calmly lying on his chest waiting for his heart to stop racing.

"How would you find them?" He knew her idea was crazy, but it intrigued him. According to his cousine Darius the Rebels were well organized, but they had kept the Capital and the Peacekeepers at bay for years.

She gazed up, realized he wasn't mocking her, and continued to seriously advocate treason. "I don't know, but there must be a way. Other people find them. I use to dream of making contact when I was touring as a Champion."

He couldn't comprehend that logic. "They would probably kill you."

She shook her head. "I had what I would say thought out. I think I could have convinced them that I was their best option."

"Best option to do what?" he asked. This had to be joke. He was expecting her face to crack into laugher at any moment, but nothing changed and she remained stony and serious.

"To kill President Snow. Only a Champion could get close enough to him and the inner hierarchy of the Capital to set off a bomb." She said.

He rarely felt fear so intense, but looking at Glimmer so calmly calculating assassinating the President of Panem, let alone her own death, was something worse than his father's rages, worse than failure at the Academy, or failure in the Games. An icy blade cut close to his heart. "Suicide bombing rarely works."

"That's just what they teach us in history class. You know, they would never tell us anything about successful rebellions." She said. "Sometimes I hear my sponsors talking to our Academy instructors. It's no different than the way pimps hawk prostitutes. All we are to them is things for their amusement. They need to learn we can fight back."

"I don't want you to die." It was all he could think to say.

She smiled finally and kissed him. "I don't want to die either. Now that I've got you I've got everything to live for."

The next week terror shot through him when he was summoned to Superintendent Bacchi's office. No one could have overheard their conversation in the woods. They had been miles away from any other people. But what she had said had been treason and it had been treason for him not to report it. Was it possible their running shoes or their clothing had been bugged?

The crowd inside Superintendent Bacchi's office was mostly the same from the time Cato had his breakdown. Except Drusilla wasn't there which he considered a good thing. He saw three strange old women that had that Capital look about them which made him even more frightened. People from the Capital were rarely a good thing. And everyone was shouting or talking furiously at once. He found Glimmer on the same couch as before looking, more terrified than he felt. Her eyes were ice and her skin was clammy with sweat when he touched her. "What's happened?" he whispered.

"It didn't work." Her voice sounded hollow and she didn't make eye contact.

He kissed her frozen lips. "What didn't work?"

"The hormones they gave me to prevent ovulation. They supposed to work 99.9 percent of the time. We were the 0.01 time." She said.

Now he got it. Glimmer was pregnant. For a few minutes he was speechless. He had always planned on having children with her, but now was a dangerous time. He couldn't protect her. There were always rumors of girls at the Academy getting pregnant. Sometimes they disappeared for a while. Sometimes they came back. Sometimes they didn't. No one really talked about the fate of the babies or if the pregnancies were even allowed to develop into babies. Occasionally there would be a cadet described as being adopted usually from some wealthy family who showed exceptional prowess. Rumors would always circulate that he or she was the bastard offspring of some great champion, but Cato had never taken much stock in that. Rumors were the lifeblood of the Academy, but most of them weren't correct.

Tears glistened in Glimmer's eyes. He wiped them away and suddenly the most wonderful feelings in the world welled up inside him. They were going to have a baby! The chance had been 0.01 percent and the odds had been in their favor. Plenty of people might say it was the reverse. For all the difficulties this was about to reign down on their heads, the reality that he was going to be a father seemed to momentarily wipe out his terror. He kissed Glimmer's hands. "It's going to be okay."

She looked at him as if he were deranged. "Are you out of your mind? Most of my sponsors have already deserted me. Only the old ladies are left." She gestured to the Capital women. "They're from a women's social group that only bets of female Tributes."

"I'll figure out a way to take care of you. My parents have money. My brother has money. They'll help us and I'll do whatever it takes to survive. I'll carve stones in the quarry if I have to." Cato vowed.

That Glimmer smiled briefly through her tears was the second miracle of the day. "Cato, you're insane."

He knelt down in front of Glimmer "I want to marry you."

Glimmer was ever practical. She kissed him, but she didn't give him a yes. "We have to concentrate on surviving this first."

He nodded, got up off the floor, and took his place at her side. Despite their bizarre appearances Glimmer's remaining sponsors didn't seem too angry or concerned for the moment. They were all in consultation with Academy staff who also were calm not threatening when they gazed at Glimmer. The fighting seemed to between his parents.

"What is there to mull over? Give the girl an abortion and let us get back to our lives." Serverus said. He always referred to Glimmer as the girl. Usually Cato only despised him for that. At his moment, he really wanted to harm his father.

"It's your grandchild," his mother said. She looked she might have been crying.

Ajax spoke next. "It could be your only chance for a grandchild. Drusilla's leaving me."

The room grew a lot quieter. Cato had never seen the expression he saw now on his brother's face. Ajax looked beyond defiance, beyond everything, as if the whole world had blown apart around him, and he could care less.

"You wouldn't have this problem, if you were more diligent with the shots and your exercises," Serverus said.

Ajax got in their father's face. His threatening muscular bulk was a frightening thing to behold especially with such unconcealed fury in his eyes. "Those shots will never be enough to counteract the ravages of years of you and your Capital scum meddling in my metabolism during puberty." Those were very dangerous words to say with Academy instructors and Capital people in the room. One report and his brother would be convicted of treason. But Ajax wasn't backing down. He laid a hand on his belt. "Should I drop my pants and let everyone see your handy work?" His gaze flickered over to Cato. "Do you know how many times I've consummated my marriage, little brother? Less than a dozen times. Of course when your genitals are shriveled to size of a ten year old boy, things are more difficult."

So, this was the something else their parents fought about at night. Cato had heard of using hormones to bulk up Tributes before, but it never occurred to him that his father would do that to his own son. It made his father as bad as the Capital people that only considered the Tributes things for their amusement. No wonder Ajax had so much, until recently, hidden rage.

One of the Glimmer's sponsors intruded on them. She had mint green hair and the face of a witch from a pre-Rebellion story reel. "There are more important issues here. We have substantial investment in this girl. Your district has not done well in the Games recently and we do not relish losing all of our investment if she were to perish like all your recent Tributes. Preserving her genetic legacy especially when combined with an established line of Champions would provide some insurance against that."

As much as Cato wanted to attack her for comparing him and Glimmer to animal breeding stock, he saw the usefulness of the woman's position. More importantly, remembering the things he had learned from cousin Darius about conditions in the other districts and how the Capital maintained control he saw a lifeline for Glimmer, him, and their baby. He stood up and focused his gaze on Superintendent Bacchi. "You need a Champion next year. She and I run in the hills where there are quarry workers' chapels. Another year without food bonuses and there will be unrest in this District."

At least no one disputed him and everyone looked uncomfortable, so Cato continued bravely. A year ago he wouldn't have dreamed of standing up to his father, superintendent Bacchi, and even the Capital. He could now. For Glimmer and their child he would dare anything. "No cadet has scores as high as me and rumor has it District One is having problems this year. If I volunteer at the next Reaping, victory is assured."

The Capital ladies twittered a little. He wondered if there had been other problems in One.

"What do we do about the girl?" Serverus said.

"She can live with me. Drusilla has already moved out. We'll be good company for each other." Ajax offered.

Cato had never felt more gratitude to anyone than to his brother at that moment. Yes, Glimmer could live with his brother who would be her brother as soon as possible after he became a Champion. He would visit her everyday. Their mother would to and maybe they could even convince her to move in with her son and grandchild and leave their father to rot in his imitation Capital mansion.

"No, people will see her if she's at your brother's house. They will see her belly. We can't risk a scandal for the Academy. We will have to send her to one of the homes in the countryside where the other pregnant cadets have gone." Superintendent Bacchi said.

He had heard of such places where unmarried women went to have their children. It hadn't occurred to them that cadets would be sent there. Already he worried about the conditions Glimmer might suffer under there. He knew the quarry workers were harsh with women who were pregnant without husbands, so he didn't imagine the rest of the District was much kinder. As if she read his mind, her hand touched his shoulder. "It's okay. I can survive it." She whispered.

"I have to be able to write to her and send her packages," Cato said quickly.

"Yes, that's only fair," his mother said. Cato met his mother's gaze. Her eyes were soft and warm. She would help him and Glimmer any way she could.

Bacchi nodded with a nasty scowl. "You won't be the first to do so."

They only gave them a few minutes to say good-bye. He kissed Glimmer through her tears. "I'm going to propose to you on the Caesar Flickerman show. My victory tour will be our honeymoon."

"I'm so afraid, Cato. I'm terrified." Glimmer said.

"Believe in me," he said as a Peacekeeper pulled her away.

His mother put her arm around him. "Liam is the Peacekeeper escorting her to the home. I knew him when we were children. He will be kind. I'll ask him to deliver the parcels too."

Cato nodded. A shaft of steel went through him. No injury in the Arena would hurt as much as watching Glimmer fade out of his sight.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

His Academy scores stayed high in the months following Glimmer's departure. While before he had only his own life hanging in the balance, now the fate of all three of them rested with him and for the first time Cato wasn't so happy to be from a family of Champions. If he had been a quarry worker's son they would have been able to marry or at least live together as a family. He would have had to quit school, but that was no big loss. They would still face the Reapings, but in District Two that wasn't so bad. There was always a Tribute Academy cadet ready to volunteer. He would have spent his days carving rock, but he had the muscles for it. And while a worker's cottage or caravan was humble he knew their families could be happy in them.

If Thor noticed the change he didn't comment on it. The one thing no one at the Academy commented on was Glimmer's where abouts. Cato wrote her everyday and sometimes so did Ajax. But the letters couldn't contain much real news or any true opinions because he knew their mail had to be read by others. The best information he got from the Peacekeeper Liam, whose friendship his mother had rekindled despite his father's objection.

"Your girl's loyal," Liam told him at one dinner. "She turned down a doctor who would have taken out of that home despite her belly."

"Men find it very easy to be noble when there is a pretty face involved," his mother said.

Liam nodded. "True, but he was a good man. He became noble for a girl a lot less pretty than Glimmer who didn't want to lose her baby to adoption."

Somehow dinners at Ajax's didn't seem repayment enough for what Liam did. "I thank you again for the news, sir," Cato said.

"It's nothing for the son of a friend," Liam replied.

"You risk the wrath of my husband for bringing us this news. He wants Cato to forget Glimmer. It is certainly not nothing." His mother said.

Then Liam smiled at his mother the way she deserved to be smiled at. "Serverus fought his way through twenty-three opponents to be a Champion. I've battled more than that some days at my postings to stay alive as a Peacekeeper. In District Ten the cattle rustlers prey on the herds using motorbikes powered with moonshine. Their firearms are not as advanced as ours, but they can still kill. The pirates in District Five hold their knives between their teeth so they can scale the sides of patrol boats in complete silence. When we face them on the open sea they have weapons as good as ours. Tell Serverus the world beyond the Games can be quite tough."

Glimmer had told Cato one of her mother's Peacekeeper lovers had seen ships with foreign flags in the waters off of Five. He wondered if that was where the pirates got their weapons. The Capital told them nothing about the world outside Panem, but it sounded as if things were much worse than he had thought. Sometimes he felt scared when he thought about Panem being vulnerable to other powers, but other times it gave him a strange hope. It meant the Capital wasn't invincible.

Then came the Reaping. The Capital Representative called out Clove's name and no other female Tribute Academy cadet wanted to deprive her of the honor of representing District 2. For a moment not volunteering flashed through his mind. After all Clove was the best female cadet. She would most likely be the victor this year, so District 2 would have a Champion and would get their food bonuses. But that wasn't the deal he made and it wouldn't keep Glimmer and their baby safe. They wouldn't even tell him if the baby was a boy or girl. His father said that was a reward for after he won the Games. Yeah, right. _I'll never forget her._ Volunteering was the only way to protect his family. But he might have to kill Clove. That wouldn't be easy. Hopefully someone else would take her out of the Games before he had to do it. He moved forward.

Thor grabbed him by the arm. "Are you out of your mind? Clove's up there!"

Cato shook Thor away. "I have to. It's the only way I can protect Glimmer." He took a deep breath and stepped up "I volunteer as Tribute."

He had spent most of his life training for the moment when he took the stage as District 2's Tribute, but now it was bittersweet at best. The applause and the cheers were certainly as grand as he had expected. And certainly the gratitude on the face of the boy who had been Reaped, a quarry worker's son, had been electrifying. As they passed each other briefly on the platform, the boy, tears of relief streaming down his face, grabbed Cato's hand in a fierce grip. "They'll be plenty of gifts from the Quarry Worker's Union," he said. It hadn't really occurred to Cato that by volunteering he was potentially saving someone else's life. Then he was up on the stage with the Capital Representative and Clove. The crowd chanted his name and cameras flashed all around. Within the hour all of District 2 would be reading or watching programs about his families' history in the Games. So would people in the Capital. Hopefully, it would impress potential sponsors. This was what he had been born to do. But when he saw the fury in Clove's eyes a freezing wind passed across him. Ajax's voice echoed in his brain. _The world is a more dangerous place than you think, little brother_. Yeah, he understood, but it was time to be a man even when it meant killing someone he cared about. _Concentrate on Glimmer and your baby now. That's all you can do. _

Waiting for the train he tried not to watch Thor and Clove alternatively crying and making out. It could have been worse. At least the tears were mainly from Clove, but he noticed Thor did wipe his eyes and nod seriously a lot. He had never seen his friend do that. At the last-minute Thor walked over to him.

"I don't know what to say," Thor began.

"How about good luck?" Cato said.

Thor's face reminded him of old marble. "Good luck for you means my girl dies." A moment later, Thor caught him up in a tight hug. "Something has got to change about how our society works," he whispered.

On the train he found out their mentors for the Games were Ajax and Boudicca. Clove latched on to Boudicca immediately. He knew she would opt to be trained separately. Didn't matter, he had his brother with him.

"I'm going to get you sponsors the likes of which the Games have never seen. You going to gain ten pounds from the food bundles you'll get in the Arena." Ajax vowed.

"Just help me stay alive," Cato said. He touched Ajax's shoulder. "I'm glad you're my mentor."

"I volunteered too, little brother. I wouldn't miss supporting you for the world and the rest of my life." Ajax replied. Then Ajax's smile faded. Always a bad sign. "Our father's going to be at the Capital, maybe Mom too. Officially, it's because they think they can drum up more sponsors for you. I think he just wants to make sure you don't do anything to embarrass him."

He had planned on proposing to Glimmer on the Ceasar Flickerman show. Maybe their father had guessed that. So what if their father had, it wouldn't stop him.

After a few hours Boudicca came back into their car. She sprawled across the couch in front of him. She drank a lot, maybe not as bad as some of the other mentors did, but it seemed like a serious weakness to Cato. "I heard about your little biological experiment," she said.

"Jealous?" Cato countered.

She snorted. "Maybe I would have been once, but not now. Anybody who has kids now should be shot for child abuse. So here is how you play it. You flirt with every female over ten in the Capital, but about your girlfriend and the little experiment, not a word. Nothing turns a woman off like some other woman's brat."

Cato hadn't planned on mentioning his family. Not because he felt it would cost him sponsors, but because he wanted to keep Glimmer and their baby as far away from the Capital and the Games as possible. He would win his Games, they would be married, and then they would get as far away from civilization as possible. The Capital knew about their first-born, but there had to be a way he could hide the birth records of any future children. Maybe even to the border areas where people could disappear. He had been trained to live rough and wild. He thought about the ships with foreign flags that Glimmer had heard about and remembered Liam's stories about pirates on the ocean past District Five. That had to be a better world than the one he was living in now.

Hours later when they reached the Capital and he saw the District One tributes it took four Peacekeepers to subdue him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

It took four Peacekeepers to subdue him and even then they barely managed to drag him into another room.

"I won't compete! I'll step off the pedestal before the buzzer and blow your family legacy into shreds!" Cato swore. His father was only inches from him. If only the Peacekeepers weren't holding him back, he would do it. He would show his father just how good a killing machine he had actually become.

His father ignored him and screamed at the District One mentor. "I knew that girl was trouble! Tell me she wasn't a plan by District 1 all along to sabotage our best Tribute! She should be disqualified!"

For half a second Cato entertained the possibility that his father might be trying to save Glimmer. But no way, that wasn't how the man operated. He was all about the Games. A District One mentor shrieked back, but Cato couldn't hear much because everyone was shouting at once. The Peacekeepers at his side were among the loudest. He heard his mother's voice rising above the din. She sounded the most lucid and she was getting people to leave, physically pushing them through a doorway and she even shoved his father out. Finally, there was only him, his mother and the Peacekeepers holding his arms.

"Let him go. Let me talk to him," she said.

The Peacekeepers exchanged skeptical glances. His mother persisted. "He won't hurt his mother. Do you want there to be trouble with the Games?'

That did it. Everyone lived in fear of the Capital and causing problems with the Games. The Peacekeepers dropped their hold on him and left.

"How could you? She's no different from you, just a girl who trained to be a Champion. She's the mother of your grandchildren!" His mother was right, he could not raise a hand to her, but that didn't stop him from being very angry.

His mother stayed calm. "There's someone you should talk to." She led him to door on the far side of the room, turned the handle, and Glimmer walked inside.

He had never seen Glimmer look defeated before. Her eyes were on the floor. It reminded him of the Tributes from the far and poor districts. Did she think he would be angry with her? He knew this was his father's doing and not her fault.

"I finally found who my father is. He's was a Peacekeeper from District One." When she gazed up her eyes lacked the feral glow.

Something more wrong than even this had happened to his Glimmer and he could think of only one cause. He took her hands. "What happened to our baby?"

Her chin trembled. "Babies. I had twin boys."

The world froze. They made a deal for one baby, not two! He swept Glimmer up in his arms as tight as he could. "There has to be another way."

She shook her head. "They wanted to give one baby to my father. He's become a wealthy man. You know what they were planning."

Identical twins raised in different districts, fighting each other in the Arena, it was a scenario the Gamemakers would love. The world came crashing down on him. He and Glimmer never had a chance. They were puppets to the Capital, little more than live stock for their Games, and they would be ground up and destroyed. Pain tore through his body. He felt his muscles shake. His legs would no longer support his weight and he sank to the floor. His mother embraced him like she would when he was a boy and they were away from his father's eyes. Glimmer was there holding him tight. Glimmer would never be his wife, except this way. Maybe it was the only way that really mattered. Protected by their arms, Cato cried.

Later, hours it seemed when the animal sounds no longer echoed off the walls, his mother delicately disengaged from him. She wiped his eyes. "Your brother has managed to bring some very special guests to meet you today."

Ajax came into the room carrying a twin bassinet. Glimmer wiped her eyes. She looked closest to her happy self now. She picked up the first baby and laid him in Cato's arms. "This is Crixus," she said. Miraculously tiny eyes opened clear and piercing. She picked up the second baby and held him next to Cato. He was the mirror image of his brother. "And this is Castus." She leaned closer until her lips were touching Cato's ear. "I found the names in an old history book."

"I recognize them," Cato whispered back. It was a miracle she had sneaked those names past the Capital. Crixus and Castus had been slave gladiators that revolted against imperial Rome.

They seemed too perfect to be a part of his family like the changelings in little kid's fairy tales. He wished there was some magic to hide them from the Capital. Glimmer laid her head on his shoulder. She lifted up Castus tiny chin with two fingers. "I see your face in them already and they'll probably have blonde hair."

"I see both of us. We made them together." Cato said.

Glimmer smiled a real smile finally. He remembered it from that one most perfect day dancing with her at the quarry worker's wedding. His fate was sealed. His sons shouldn't grow up without their mother and he didn't want to grow old without her.

"You two want get off the floor, so I can take some pictures," Ajax said.

Pictures, of course, the boys needed lots of pictures. The pictures should show their father held them in his arms when they were babies. Cato knew no such pictures existed of him and his own father. In the future, the pictures would help their boys understand why he had done what he would do. His father always snarled that he could tell how Cato felt about Glimmer by the way Cato looked at her. Hopefully that would bleed through in the photos. _Yeah, your parents were young, but they loved each other. And even though you guys were a surprise, you were never a regret._ Ajax would tell them all that. His brother could be trusted. Crixus started to whimper, then Castus a moment later.

"They're hungry," his mother explained.

"Do you breast feed?" Cato asked Glimmer. Maybe that could be used as an excuse to pull her from the Games.

She looked sad. "They gave me drugs to stop my milk, so I could retrain faster."

His mother took two bottles from her carryall. "The formula is safe. I test each batch."

His mother showed him how to hold Crixus and the bottle. It was a wondrous thing. And while Glimmer feed Castus, Ajax took more pictures. _Your parents fed you when you were babies._ When Ajax told the boys he would have pictures to back it up. Time was running out. All happiness in one day, the feeling was so strong in became pain. This was it. Every moment left in his life was just a prisoner's last meal. But he didn't regret it. Some people had less happiness and he had his family, the family that counted anyway, until nearly the end.

"Will you stay in the Capital for the Games?" Cato asked his mother.

She shook her head. "We leave tonight on a Peacekeeper shuttle under the command of one of your cousins. The children will be raised in my family by your brother and me."

"What about my father?" Cato asked.

He got a glimpse of the fortitude that won his mother's round of the Games. "Your father may be a Champion, but so am I and so is your brother. I will not lie to you. My grandsons may become Peacekeepers, but other families will have a greater chance to win honor in the Games."

"I thank you. I thank you for bringing them to see us. I thank you for coming." Only formal words seemed worthy enough for such a moment.

There were tears in his mother's eyes. She never cried! She reached for him touching his face like was a little boy. "I had to. A mother should do certain things."

"What else is there?" Cato struggled not to cry again.

"That if this is the last time I shall see my son, I want him to know that even if he had been the greatest Champion in all the history of the Games, I could never be more proud than I am of the man he has become now."

He embraced his mother again. She understood. And he knew nothing could stop her and Ajax.

His mother turned to Glimmer. "You are strong, probably stronger than me. I should have accepted you long before and had a daughter to love also." She handed Glimmer a ring. "Push three times on the stone to release a spike. The poison kills almost instantly."

Glimmer clenched her hand around the ring. "I'll use it to return your son to you."

"No, you won't," Cato declared. He took the ring and picked up her hand. "I wish this could be real. I wish we could do it in the worker's chapel that your grandfather helped to build and our friends could be there and our children. I wish you had a bridal gown, not that you aren't beautiful now, but because you deserve it, and I wish this was a real ring." He held the poison ring at her index finger. "Make of our hands one hand. Make of our hearts one heart. Make of our vows one last vow. Not even death can harm us now."

Glimmer kissed him as he slid the ring up her finger. Sweet, hot explosions, the prisoner's finest desserts. It was all ending. They would never be more happy than this afternoon. He kissed his sons. He kissed his mother and embraced his brother. Had they ever been so close in the past? He didn't think so. "Since your wife has left you, will you marry my widow and keep her safe?" Cato asked.

A smirk like old times crossed Ajax's face. "You know she is a free entity with a will of her own?"

Glimmer laid her head on Cato's shoulder and her hand on his chest. "I'll never feel about anyone the way I feel about your brother. I'm not going to grow old."

"We'll talk this out later," Cato said. This wasn't the place to argue, but he would make her see reason.

"I'll protect your family, brother," Ajax said. He leaned in to whisper. "But I'll make no claim on your widow she doesn't completely want."

His mother and Ajax took the children away. Nothing that would happen to him in the Games would hurt as much as next few hours, but he could use that. It was another type of armor.

He and Glimmer survived the Remake Center though what that stupidity had to do with making them better for the Games he would never understand. The Prep Teams and Stylists couldn't make Glimmer more beautiful. The make over just annoyed him. Pretty boy looks didn't help fighting in the Arena. He doubted it would be much use for getting sponsors. If there was one thing he had learned from Boudicca on the train was that his appeal wasn't cuddly and adorable, but built to kill and sexy, not sweet. In that department he didn't think he had any competition among the other male tributes. Marvel from District One seemed to have a permanent sneer on this face and a pug nose. The ebony giant from District Eleven, Thresh, might appeal to some of the Capital women's fantasies, but ultimately race would work against Thresh. The Capital like to watch blacks competing in the Games. They didn't like to see them win that often. The odds were in his favor, which meant ultimately they were in Glimmer's favor.

The District One chaperone had a mini flip out at the Tribute Tower when he draped his arm around Glimmer and steered her toward the elevators. "Yoo hoo! Your attention. Quarters for District One Tributes are located on the first floor."

Cato found a type of courage he hadn't known he possessed. "With both our lives on the lines in a few days, we're not sleeping apart, so either I stay on one or she stays with me on two. It's the only way to make sure sexual frustration doesn't throw off our focus in the Games."

Those were the magic words. Their chaperones and mentors would take no chances on jeopardizing performance in the Games. But Marvel chose that moment to mouth off. "Great, so it's all right if I'm alone and lonely."

Cato leaned over until their faces were only a few inches apart. "I'm sure one of the Peacekeepers will let you suck him off if you beg."

Glimmer shoved him into an elevator before he could say anything else. "I can't believe you said that to Marvel!"

_I'll probably say a lot worse before the Games are over._ "Has he been bothering you? He looks like a jerk."

"He's actually very sweet and he's very scared. As much as he wants to be a champion, he's terrified." She said.

He put both arms around her. "How about you?"

"There's nothing in the Games that can scare me," she replied.

He nodded. "Then that's another advantage that improves our odds."

The Tribute suites were better than anything he had ever seen. They put his father's house to shame and he tried not to delight in the luxury. Still, it was immensely enjoyable to hoist Glimmer up in his arms and lay her down on the gigantic bed awash with rippling silk and pillows. After making love, they talked about the odds and potential hazards.

"Marvel is as good with a throwing spear as Clove is with a knife. But you can take him in a sword fight easily, by hand with a little more difficulty," Glimmer said.

"Maybe if we throw him and Clove together often enough, he'll make a stupid pass at her and she'll take him out for us," he said.

"Him taking her out first would be better. How are we going to handle Thresh?" she asked.

"His size is his only real advantage and after a few days starving that won't matter. He has never been trained to fight," Cato said.

She nodded. "I see two other potential problems on the girl's side: District Five and District 12."

He vaguely remembered the District Five female Tribute. She was a redhead with sharp, bright eyes. "How so?"

"District Five is smart. All during Remake she was figuring out the things they were doing to us from the most obscure clues. And District Twelve, she scares me." Glimmer said.

District Twelve was just a scrawny girl from mining country. He wondered if she even knew how to read. "Are you serious?"

"Look at her eyes. She knows what it's like to go hungry. People like her are dangerous. They know what it takes to survive." Glimmer said.

He noticed her eyes misting and tightened his arms around her. "Are you thinking about our boys?"

"No. This isn't like I thought it would be. We've become monsters. We're calmly planning how to kill innocent people." She said.

_It's not any different from the conversations that occurred in my father's house over every meal_. He didn't tell her that. "It's no different from when you killed that pimp."

She rolled off him and lay on her back staring at the ceiling. "Yes, it is different. He was a man twice my size and trying specifically to hurt me. Have you looked at some of the other Tributes? There is a boy from District Four and a girl from District Eleven. They can't be more than twelve. They look like little dolls and they're going to be slaughtered."

"Those twelve year olds will slaughter us without a thought if they get the chance." He moved closer until they were face-to-face. "I'll do the heavy killing. You just watch my back. And when it's just the two of us left, we'll fight hand to hand, so no ones sees you slip me the spike." A wilder, more wonderful plan came to him. "No, we'll wrestle around and end up having sex. Get on top of me and when I come, slip me the spike. They'll talk about it for years after. It's how every man dreams of dying."

"It shouldn't be me that survives. Boys need a father. I won't even be in the same district." She said.

"My mother and Ajax will work it out so you can move to District Two. And Ajax will be a good father. He's basically all I've really had for a true father figure." He said.

She started crying again, crying so hard she shook, and all he could do was hold her tighter and whisper. "It's going to be okay."

They were too busy making out in a hidden nook to catch Ceasar Flickerman's interview with Peeta Mellark. When they got back to the Tribute Tower it was all anyone was talking about.

"Star-crossed lovers competing in the Arena! It's certainly an appealing angle," the female chaperone gushed.

"Then why don't you tell the truth about Glimmer and me?" Cato demanded.

"The Capital audiences like pure, young lovers, not teenage hot pants with illegitimate children," Boudicca sneered.

_They wouldn't be illegitimate if I had my way._ But he knew not to say that. Glimmer took his hand and took away some of his rage.

"Do you think it's just a strategy to get sponsors?" Glimmer asked.

"Maybe for her, but not him. When I watch him, I see me looking at you." Cato replied.

They made love so energetically that night, that both mentors and Clove shouted for them to keep the noise down.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

He vomited the first night of the Games. Ajax had told him that would happen, but he was surprised when it actually did. Somehow Cato thought he would be the exception, that after all he had already gone through nothing could affect him. But when the adrenaline died and there was only the smell of blood, and it was nothing like the yeasty mix of going down on Glimmer during her cycle, his stomach revolted. They were monsters and the only way the mother of his sons would survive would be if he became the worst monster of them all. Animal screams grew in his acid washed throat. He wanted to damn the Capital, the Games, and all of Panem, but that would cost him sponsors, so he strangled the rage inside him. Glimmer saved him. She found him in the woods, wiped his face, and gently brought him back to civilized. "We should get back to the Cornucopia. The group has a camp set up." She said.

At the Cornucopia, Glimmer seemed to be in charge. She was the calmest, washing off Clove's face and talking softly to her, and getting Marvel and the others to eat. He had always known she was strong, but this afternoon was more than he ever dreamed. Everyone else was a wreck, but Glimmer's smile lit up the twilight. It made him wonder just what horrors she had to smile and pretend everything was normal through in the Vicehood. The group was larger than he anticipated. Marvel and Clove were an obvious, but they also had the boy from District Three and Peeta Mallark.

"Marvel should have wasted both of them," Cato whispered to Glimmer.

She gestured to where the boy from industrial district worked at a table covered with metal discs. "He worked in the factory where the mines were produced. He says he can reactivate them."

Okay, that was a skill worth trading for a few more days of life. "And Loverboy?"

"Marvel thinks he might be useful in finding Katniss Everdeen." Glimmer expression indicated how little she agreed with that idea.

Cato reached out and massaged her shoulder. He could feel rock hard knots of tension and fear. "You're right. He really loves her. He won't help us find her."

"Maybe we can use him as a lure," Glimmer suggested. "I wish we had the redhead from District Five. She could figure out how to reactivate those mines and find the Girl on Fire for us."

He saw her hand shoot up to cover her eyes and knew she was fighting back tears. He had to distract her. There were too many cameras in the Arena. "Who has the first watch?"

"Clove," she said.

"Is there anywhere other than the ground or the floor to sleep?" Cato asked.

Her eyes sparkled. His Glimmer was in rare, perfect form tonight. She took him by the hand and led him to back of the Cornucopia. "Look what I found," she whispered. An inflated double mattress lay on the floor in front of them. She pushed him down on to the soft surface. "I don't think there are many cameras back here," she said.

"Who cares? They'll just edit out anything they don't want the rest of Panem to see." He undid her pants. He wished they could get fully naked again, but it was too dangerous. At least, they had these few nights left together.

Glimmer touched his arm. "I don't like being masturbation fodder for Plutarch."

He had to laugh at that.

She sank down on top of him. She probably intended on straddling him while they made love. Cool with him, he had used up a lot of energy making his kills. Luckily, Glimmer was the goddess that could renew his strength. But she still looked a little sad. He pulled her as close as he could. "I love you," he whispered.

Her head shot up immediately. "Why did you say that?"

"It seemed like the right time. I wanted you to hear it before I die." He said.

There were tears leaking out of Glimmer's eyes. He licked them away and whispered the words again and again until they were having sex and he had to scream.

* * *

It took two days and a half for the tracker-jacker venom to work out of their systems enough to regroup at the Cornucopia. He had found his sword, but Glimmer's body had already been removed. Maybe that was for the best. He would always remember her the way she lived, radiant and beautiful, not the way she died, face distorted and inflamed from multiple tracker-jacker sings. The pain she had suffered before dying would have been so overwhelmingly visible he couldn't have controlled his own feelings. He would have broke down again and that was the most dangerous thing that could happen now. Okay, change of plans, win, so your sons have at least one parent. Whatever happens, I'll be a better father than the one I had.

Clove brought him food. "I'm sorry. I know you loved her."

"With a body like that, who wouldn't?" Marvel said.

Cato glared at him. "Watch your mouth. She was the mother of my children." It felt good to say that even though he knew the censors would edit it out.

Marvel and Peeta looked stunned. Clove not so much. Marvel spoke first. "Whoa! They let you breed already! Trainers in One say don't even think about it until you win."

"They weren't exactly in favor of it, but things happen," Cato said. He reached for his sword.

Clove spoke. "There were all sorts of rumors when she left the Academy. When I told my mom everything that had happened, she said, 'Well, of course, she was pregnant. Come on, Clove, you're supposed to be a bright girl. What other explanation could there be.' What happened to the children?"

"My mother and my brother took them. They'll raise them in a Peacekeeper village. All my mother's people are Peacekeepers." Cato said.

At least, Peeta Mallark hadn't said anything, but his presence seemed intolerable now. Cato glanced over at him, noting the perpetual sensitive boy look on his face. _You weren't the great love story of the Games, but you're getting the credit for it. Hell, I don't even think that girl from District 12 cares if you exist. That's unearned valor._ Cato stood up and walked toward Peeta Mallark who scrambled to grab his spear.

* * *

He was cooking a rabbit when they made the special announcement that two Champions would be allowed for this year's Hunger Games provided that they came from the same district. _It still wouldn't have helped us, my love_. No doubt the change was all because of Peeta Mallark and Katniss Everdeen and his rage against them burned even harder than sorrow for awhile. He felt like crying a little, but held it back. Now was the time to live for his sons and live to keep a friend alive too. He found Clove and dropped half the roasted rabbit down beside her. "Eat. Both of us can make it out of this alive."

Her gaze held knives. "I'm not interested in stepmothering your little bastards."

"I could care less who you end up with. I'm just sick of seeing people die." He said.

The way she tore into the rabbit reminded him of how Glimmer ate sometimes, but somehow the memory didn't cause him immediate pain. As long as he could still remember she was still with him. Something like hope at least was growing in him that the world wasn't going to be as bad as he thought it would be. And he thought of something he could say to Clove that might help her also. "You know, Thor really loves you. It's not like with his other girls."

She swallowed and turned her attention his way. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because if I can't keep my woman safe, keeping my buddy's safe is the next best thing. I'll do the heavy killing. You just watch my back." He said.

She nodded. "Throwing knives work better at a distance than in close combat." She pulled a bucket out from behind her back and sat it between them. It was filled with dried fruit, grain bars and pieces of bread. "I salvaged this from the ruins at the Cornucopia. Eat. Rabbit meat alone will leave you malnourished."


End file.
